The company’s online store has given spur to the e-commerce movement in the wire and cable industry. Through the online store, LAPP plans to offer small and medium businesses the ability to buy directly from the manufacturers. The store allows customers to do a hassle-free purchase of more than 20,000 LAPP products.
“We realized that it is very vital that the cables and other connectivity accessories should be made available to buy 24×7 at a click of a button. Hence, through LAPP’s dedicated online store, we hope to help our customers to take an informed decision as the site would have product information which can be viewed at the product level, application level or industry level and get the product delivered to their doorstep,” says Marc Jarrault, Managing Director, LAPP.
Wire & Cable India: How did the realization for the B2B e-commerce come to the LAPP Group for the wire and cable industry?
Marc Jarrault: In the age of internet, e-commerce has gained more popularity in a business model structure worldwide and now-a-days B2B e-commerce is intensifying in India. More and more companies are venturing into their own online stores to provide seamless customer experience and offer quality service. LAPP, as an integrated service provider of cable and connection technology, realizes that it is very vital that the cables and other connectivity accessories should be made available to buy 24×7 at a click of a button. Hence, through LAPP’s dedicated online store, we hope to help our customers to take an informed decision as the site would have product information which can be viewed at product level, application level or industry level and get the product delivered to their doorstep. The store was initiated to strengthen our motto ‘we are where you are’. With this initiative, we have ensured that over 20,000 LAPP’s products are available to the buyers pan India.
WCI: As it is evident the online shopping portals have a lot of features to make an easy and pleasurable experience, how is LAPP facilitating wires through the dedicated online store?
MJ: Through LAPP’s online store, we plan to offer small and medium businesses the ability to buy directly from the manufacturers. The store has a user experience that allows our customers to do a hassle-free purchase with a full portfolio of more than 20,000 LAPP products. The store provides product information; stock availability status and delivery lead time details for the buyer to make their purchase any time. Its search engine allows one to search the appropriate products according to their requirement and also add filters to make a targeted search of products at product, industry or application level. One can also compare products and make an appropriate choice and the product will be delivered for free for more than 18,000 pin codes across India.
It also permits a buyer to buy LAPP’s products in smaller quantities as and when the requirement arises. With this feature, LAPP plans to cater to the requirement that is for maintenance, repair and operations. It will also ease the new buyers to place bulk orders as they can order a product in smaller quantity, test it and then order for actual quantity. The store also offers our global products without any extra charges levied along with local products.
WCI: How effectively is LAPP accommodating such a wide range of products? How are you managing the request for returns?
MJ: LAPP’s 20,000+ products are stocked in its local, regional and global warehouses. Once the order is received and confirmed, we source it from our warehouses and dispatch it for a fast delivery. This process helps us optimize our cost and control inventory. Additionally, we have identified 3000+ fast moving products which are ready to be dispatched and deliver to the customers within 24 hours.
Along with payment, return and refunds are also made as easy as possible to make our customers online purchase experience favorable. The return & refund clause is mentioned for a buyer to read through and make the purchase accordingly. Returns will be assured and processed in case there are any mis-shipment of the product from LAPP or if anyone has received a damaged product. Once the complaint is confirmed, we will dispatch the relevant and fresh products and make an arrangement for the mis-shipped/damaged product from the customer’s delivered address.
WCI: Also, tell us about the challenges that you are facing on this front.
MJ: In business to business e-commerce transactions, verifying a customer’s GST Identification Number (GSTIN) becomes very critical and if a customer has punched in a wrong identification number, the verification process is prolonged and dispatching the productgets delayed. At times we also experience delay in government portal forverifying the GSTN which in turn effects the confirmation of the order, hence delaying the dispatch. We at LAPP make sure that once the customer’s order is confirmed in all aspect, the product is dispatched as soon as possible and the delivery is done as earlier as possible. Through all this, our only aim is to serve our customers without any hindrance in their process of buying a product online.
WCI: When was this initiative taken and how has been the customer feedback so far?
MJ: Lapp India launched its online store in November 2014, since then our customers have had the option to order smaller quantities that allows them to cater to their urgent maintenance or repair requirement. They can also now place smaller quantity for their R&D purpose from where they are. Our customers have had a positive experience as our online store allows them buy from us, from the places where we do not have our sales offices or dealer presence, and get the product delivered to where they are without any delivery cost. Our customer base ranges from dealers, traders, SMEs to end customers.
We are glad to announce that our customers do not just look at us as a cable manufacturer but as a solution provider and one-stop-shop for alltheir accessories requirement like glands, conduits, cable ties, connectors etc. along with their cable requirements.
