New ecommerce fulfilment possibilities with HubSpot integrations

Once a customer on an ecommerce portal clicks the ‘Buy’ button and pays, is the transaction over? As long as the product can be used by the customer right away, the sale concludes with doorstep delivery.

What happens when a customer buys a product that needs to go beyond  delivery to installation – like an air-conditioner, or a washing machine, for instance?

The ecommerce store has to coordinate and manage the process with multiple vendors. Right from home delivery to company service personnel for installation. All of this is currently done offline, leading to time and resources being utilised inefficiently. 

Two steps for customers, a giant leap for retailers

Blueoshan worked for a large European auto group to create a sales demo that explained the process to retailers and showed them the advantages of extending fulfilment.

Ecommerce opportunities extend beyond the sale to fulfilment and set up new ways to enhance customer satisfaction

This involved building a demo website with complete ecommerce functionality on HubSpot. Retailers were shown how customers could fix a time for delivery when they were at home, based on their convenience and additionally, fix a time for installation as well.

That closed an open-ended loop, and enrolled all vendors and service engineers associated with the retailer to bring them on to one platform.

When the customers chose a time for delivery, it would trigger an alert with the participating delivery companies – it was a lead generated for them. The ones who responded the fastest could lock in the business and manage delivery.

The same process followed with installation – service companies got alert when installations were required, along with the timing indicated by the customer and the address. That made it easier to plan installations in advance and optimise service engineers’ schedules.

For customers, it was just two additional steps. They were also interested in locking down delivery and installations, so compliance would increase. And the ecommerce store received higher customer satisfaction ratings if the delivery and installations were carried out as promised.

A solid asset for sales teams

Instead of making presentations, sales personnel from the company could demonstrate the advantages to retailers right away. The product was designed to be an add-on to the retailers’ website, keeping all existing functionality intact.

In concept selling, keeping the promise clear and showing rather than telling help to speed up decision cycles

Since retailers were used to managing the post-sale requirements offline, they had to buy into the concept. Seeing it happen on a website was the best way to convince them of the advantages of adopting this additional functionality.

It could be demonstrated by the sales person by simulating purchase, followed by setting time for delivery and installation. By letting retailers decide on the costs, it also brings in more revenue – and that’s always welcome for any business.

It is a benefit that comes into play only when the ecommerce chain has already been established. Then, retailers look for additional points of integration – and this is not obvious because there’s already a process in place. And since the sale has concluded, this process begins.

A new concept, or a new way of managing things takes time to absorb and implement. And there are several product lines this is rolling out to because the segments and the number of areas where it can be implemented is expanding.

Over time, it could be applied to B2B ecommerce sites as well, especially to streamline supply chains further.

And implementation on the ground will bring up problems that were not foreseen earlier – and they have to be ironed out.

How HubSpot ticks all the boxes

Building and using websites as sales aids is not conventional. But HubSpot has the flexibility to be adapted to several templates and sectors. It allows for experimentation and flexibility to try out new ideas. The privacy and security features enable it all to reside within one system with hierarchical and defined access.

And HubSpot’s native integration with several ecommerce software programs ensures that clients can be reassured that additional functionality can be built-in without affecting the existing site.

The site also needs to integrate vendor databases and provide notifications for calendars and job orders. But HubSpot’s ecosystem is vast and Blueoshan’s technical heft in implementing complex workflows has certainly helped.

Blueoshan has a deep technical understanding of HubSpot’s native capabilities and how they can be extended.

Speak to us on a technical issue that you may have been grappling with. Whether it’s related to large databases, workflows or analytics.

Our expert consultants will be more than happy to discuss things further.