In the overall, the internet has had a very beneficial affect on our business. We have more direct feedback both good and bad from our customers and their input is always interesting. It helps us keep a track of trends and desires of customers. Our products are exposed to many more potential (and existing!) customers than would be possible by regular advertising, shows and dealers. Even though we have always had a large international market, the internet brings that market so much closer. We have had a major increase in the number of dealers representing our product, many of whom are solely internet dealers.
The internet has not made any significant changes in how we do business rather it has increased the opportunities to reach our customers and for them to reach us. It has required the allocation of substantial time to preparing the website, monitoring the Forums and email and making responses to the questions posed. It has made us realize the importance of documenting more in our r&d and manufacturing processes so that we can answer questions more accurately.
I find that the discussion Forums are interesting but they can get a bit nasty sometimes! Email can be a very impulsive method of communication and, in the privacy of home (or place of work) and under a nom de plume, people sometimes make statements that they would never make if they were speaking face to face or even on the telephone. We feel some concern in the fact that mis-information is spread just as quickly as good information the general assumption is that because it is in print, it must be that way!
Discounting of prices continues to be a concern. Some of the internet dealers offer lower prices partly because competition is quite stiff and partly because their overhead is very low. The impact of this on our dealers who have stores or who attend shows is significant. It also impacts the worth of an item and the logevity of it. This is one of the reasons why we ask all our dealers to hold our retail prices. There is room for everyone in the market place without anyone being over greedy.
For me, personally, the internet is a wonderful tool my only problem is that everyone seems to have much more time to spend at their computer than I do!! It is a method of communication that is here to stay and I enjoy the new friends I have made!
Anne
I'm doing a research paper for my internal business class on "how the internet has affected the knife business." Please tell me what you can about how the internet has changed the way you do business. Details would be great!
