Private Label Drinking Water and Event Planning
Events are an important part of corporate life. A well planned event can forcefully convey a clear corporate message and engage participants in the respective corporate culture.
Most companies and organizations hold events for a number of reasons. Company picnics, holiday parties, new product introductions, sales and planning meetings and annual shareholder's meetings are but a few of the occasions that mark milestones of the organization. These meetings require detailed planning and resources and many organizations elect to utilize specialists in managing events.
Event planning is a complex undertaking with the coordination of vendor delivery schedules and maintaining critical timeline requirements. In addition to the logistics involved in planning the meeting most planners develop a theme that captures the essence and intent of the meeting. The theme adds continuity and acts as a reminder of the event for the future.
The Value of the Theme
A common theme brings participants together and allows the event organizers to convey a strong message about the event. The theme is usually expressed in communication and promotional material and documents related to the event. Effective communication of the theme is critical to the success of the event. Since there are a variety of themes to choose from for any event, care must be taken to select the best theme for the occasion and to properly communicate the theme to the audience.
Promotional Items and Quality Communication
The theme is an important element of communications. A quality message, consistent with the overall theme message of the company, is required for effective communication. One aspect of communication is the use of personalized promotional items, effective banners and unique giveaways. These items can be designed to impart an effective message and the use of high quality personalized giveaways creates a lasting impression and reinforces the event theme.
Private Label Drinking Water as an Effective Promotional Item
Private label drinking water is an ideal and powerful way to promote an event theme. Essentially private labeling allows businesses to design and develop a label with a custom message and theme and attach that label to a bottle of healthy drinking water. A result of this process is the creation and promotion of a clear message that is tailored to the event
Because of the immediate and permanent nature of the bottled water product, consumable advertising is created that leaves a lasting message in the mind of the event participant.
Some of the benefits of private labeled water include:
• A high-quality, effective and custom message.
• Messages can be modified to reflect events like corporate meetings, new product introductions and promotions.
• Individual users often carry the water with them and the event message is further extended and promoted.
• Pure water is popular and universally accepted as contributing to good health. The message of the private label effectively reaches more prospects as use grows.
• Effective cost is low and response to the event message is immediate.
• Consumable, portable advertising creates a lasting message and impression.
What to Look for in a Private Label Water Supplier
There are a number of private label water suppliers but they vary widely in the quality of their product offerings. There are three areas to investigate when choosing a supplier:
1. Quality of Water
Events with a large number of participants require proper hydration with water of the highest quality. High quality water in terms of health and taste is also critical for the acceptance of the theme and event message. If the water is low quality or tastes bad then the message will fail. The best quality water on the market today is purified using a distillation/ filtration/ oxygenation process that removes all impurities, including all bacteria, and creates a light, refreshing taste.
2. Quality of Label Design and Production
The label is the message part of the product and poor-quality labels send a poor-quality message. Production of a poor-quality label is a waste of money and adversely affects the message and theme.
It is very important to know that the vast majority (almost all) of the private label opportunities in this country come from water resellers (not bottlers) with desktop-model “thermal” (or “thermal wax”) printing devices with a quality level that cannot compare well to even consumer-grade inkjet printing devices widely available for less than $200 at your local electronics store. These label printers are very cheap in both quality and cost, typically ranging from $10-20k depending on configuration, and are widely used throughout the private label water industry because of their low cost.
In sharp contrast, a quality label, i.e., one that looks like a top-shelf brand that you might find in your local gourmet grocery store, needs to be produced with professional-quality equipment using professional-grade printing equipment. There are three types of printing equipment that can produce a high-quality label.
1. Rotary offset lithography;
2. Flexography; and
3. High-quality digital presses.
For most smaller runs (under about 10,000 units), digital equipment offered by Heidelberg or HP is the most cost effective solution, but instead of $10-20k, the minimum equipment costs for these professional solutions range from $750k to $1.25M per station.
These facts are very important to understand when choosing a private label bottler — because those who sell low-quality labels would have you believe that nothing better is available because of the short runs required by private label customers. Nothing could be further from the truth.
In order to succeed, your label must be professionally designed and produced with high-quality materials using a printing process that renders a high-quality result. Waterproof lamination is also required for long lasting labels. This is easily achieved for an affordable unit cost using the right equipment for the job.
3. Quality of Customer Service
The design and production of private labeled drinking water is complex and requires intense interaction between the customer and supplier. Communication and a culture of customer service excellence is a prerequisite to the creation of an effective theme message and a successful event. Without a significant commitment to customer service on the part of the supplier, the impact of the theme message will fail.
Choose a quality supplier to help develop and communicate your message and to create success for the corporate event.
Jon M. Stout is the Chairman of the board for Element H2O, a bottler in Chantilly, Virginia offering only Ultra Pure bottled water products and private label opportunities for small and large businesses in all 50 states and Canada.
Element H2O’s clients include a wide array of businesses in the health and fitness and hospitality industries, including martial arts studios, fitness centers, gyms, private trainers, physical therapy clinics, sports medicine clinics, large and small hotels, day spas, restaurant chains, catering companies, and many others.
You can reach Jon Stout at 1-866-4-PURITY, or by email at jon.stout@ElementH2O.com
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jon_Stout
E-commerce and Drinking Water
E-Commerce and Drinking Water
Safety, Convenience and Customer Service Combine for Customer Satisfaction
E- Commerce is coming of age with millions of new customers from internet sales for a wide variety of products. Advances in web site design, payment mechanisms and delivery systems have met the increased demand for online ordering.
With the advent of on-line ordering firms like Amazon and E-Bay, what started out as a small business has morphed into a multi-billion dollar industry. The key to success in the field of E Commerce ist he offering of high quality products coupled with state of the art technology to ensure ease of ordering and secure payment mechanisms.
The bottled water industry is an ideal beneficiary of e-commerce technology because of the large number of customers served and the frequency of transactions and purchases.
E-commerce Defined
E-commerce is similar to other forms of commerce except that it involves the buying and selling of goods over the Internet. E-commerce sites range from a simple web page highlighting a single item to dynamic fully developed on-line catalogs featuring thousands of products.The common theme and benefit in e-commerce sites is instant purchase, instant payment (if desired) and instant gratification for the customer.
Over the years, the e-commerce web has blossomed into a multi-billion dollar industry yearly, with significant growth projected over the next 5 years. A defining characteristic is that all ecommerce web sites accept a type of online payment, whether through a third party or directly with a merchant account..
E-commerce: The Wave of the Future
The internet is changing world view of shoppers. Instant gratification is a reality. Utilizing e-commerce allows customers the ability to quickly take delivery of the goods they require and desire.In addition, the Internet is perhaps the best sales tool ever invented as it allows customers to browse endlessly in privacy. They can return and order again and again without ever leaving their home.
Most experts agree that it is only a matter of time before all sales-oriented companies will have some sort of e-commerce presence in order to remain competitive and the development of software and tools to improve the productivity of e-commerce sites remains strong. As more and better technology is developed, e-commerce will greatly expand.
Secure Payment and SSL(Secure Socket Layer): The Heart of the System
SSL(Secure Socket Layer) has been the de facto standard and heart of the system for e-commerce transaction security, and it's likely to remain so well into the future.
SSL is basedon encryption. SSL encrypts data, like credit cards numbers (as well other personally identifiable information), which prevents unauthorized use. An SSL protected page is identified when the address begins with "https" and there is a padlock icon at the bottom of the page.
SSL Certificates
The SSL certificate resides on a secure server and is used to encrypt the data and to identify the Web site. The SSL certificate also helps to prove the site belongs to who it says it belongs to and contains information about the certificate holder, the domain that the certificate was issued to, the name of the Certificate Authority who issued the certificate, the root and the country it was issued in.
In general,e-commerce users are urged to avoid sites that fail to use and display proof of SSL Ceritifcates.
The Bottled Water Industry and E-commerce
The bottled water business is actually two lines of business: Local delivery water and private labeled water and each is an important subset of the total business.
Local delivery water is defined geographically and usually comprises rental or sales of coolers and delivery of 5-gallon and small package (12, 16.5 and 20 oz.) bottles to customers located within a limited distance from the water source. This business includes a customer base of consumers and businesses in the defined geographic area who take periodic delivery of water. The key to success in this line of business is the production and efficient delivery of the highest quality pure water.
Private labeled water involves the development and production of high quality custom labels with a clear branding message. This line of business is national in scope and includes a strong element of branding and advertising. The key to success in this line of business is the design and production of a label of the highest quality with a clear branding message.
Each line of business has different requirements for e-commerce. For the local delivery business, establishing and meeting delivery schedules is critical with the most advanced sites offering delivery programs that offer the customer choice of delivery schedules and the ability to modify deliveries as conditions warrant.
For the private labeled line of business design flexibility in the form of interactive tools for the development, proofing and production of labels is critical. Another critical aspect of the private labeled line of business is fast and cost effective delivery through national carriers.
A Culture of Customer Service
The best e-commerce site will not produce results without support of an effective customer service organization. E-commerce tools and capabilities must be complemented by a customer service culture that includes rapid customer feed back, human (as opposed to voice mail and e-mail) interaction and clear communication. It is presently impossible to totally remove the human element from e-commerce and the human element is a critical part of the customer satisfaction process..
Best and Powerful Features
There are many varieties of e-commerce sites ranging from the simplest static site that offers very limited features to full featured dynamic sites based upon the latest database technology and access. No matter what the level of technology however, the site should combine ease of use with the most powerful features available. An effective bottled water e-commerce site should include the following minimum features.
General Features
•Multiple-Recipient Ordering (allows multiple user shipments in a single transaction)
•No Shopping Cart “Shoving“ (gives the user maximum flexibility before check-out)
•Login Systems for Wholesale and Retail Customers (with remembered billing and recipient party data)
•Code Maturity (provides for reliability and stability of the site)
•Future Arrival Date Provisions (mandatory for scheduling deliveries and shipments)
•Order History and Fast Loading of Orders
•Automatic Shipping for Retail and Wholesale Accounts
Private Label Features
•Interactive and Customer Friendly Label Configurator (allows for user development of labels and artwork)
•Proofing Capability (allows the user to repeatedly review label design before purchase)
•Multi Layered Design ( allows for choice of color, shading and label features)
E-commerce lends itself to rapid fulfillment of orders and increased customer satisfaction when the site utilizes powerful state of the art tools and features coupled with a culture of customer satisfaction. On a user friendly powerful site, water orders for both local delivery and private labeled business are safe, convenient and fast. E-commerce vendors that maintain a culture of customer service will guarantee customer satisfaction.
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About the Author: Jon Stout is the Chairman of the board for Element H2O, a bottler in Chantilly, Virginia offering only Ultra Pure bottled water products and private label opportunities for small and large businesses in all 50 states and Canada.
Elements H2O’s clients include businesses in the health and fitness and hospitality industries, fitness centers, gyms, large and small hotels, day spas, catering companies, and many others.
You can reach Jon Stout at 1-866-4-PURITY, or by email at jon.stout@ElementH2O.com
Reverse Logistics and Returns in eCommerce
It’s no secret that a positive experience delivered to a customer determines whether that customer will come back. Retailers must enhance the user experience prior to pressing the “buy” button but also focus on the post-purchase site experience to keep customer retention metrics at satisfactory levels.
This is where many online retailers drop the ball; specifically with the processing and communication management of consumer returns. By incorporating new strategies to optimize this process, retailers can increase customer retention and add new revenue streams to the direct business.
Here are some key metrics to support the return optimization business case:
• 85% of customers say they will stop buying from a retailer if the returns process is a hassle (Harris Interactive)
• 95% of customers say that they will likely shop with a catalog or internet retailer again if the returns process is convenient (Harris Interactive)
• 40% of shoppers don’t buy online due to returns difficulty (Jupiter Research)
• Customers who have their complaint resolved quickly have a re-purchase intention rate of 82% (McKinsey)
The increased importance of online returns
Returns are an inevitable fact of online retail. As the depth of online product categories became apparent in the last three years, the importance of online return policies became painfully obvious. Provide a bad returns experience and you undoubtedly reduce the chance of a customer coming back for a repeat purchase.
For example, sectors such as high-end apparel, consumer returns reach levels as high as 20% and an efficient returns process is critical to overall success. Quicker inventory cycles and fluctuating retail prices make it important to not only process the return effectively for the consumer, but also get it in the warehouse quickly for re-sale.
Reverse Logistics solve fundamental business problems
Retailers are now being proactive and turning these operational challenges into competitive advantages and incremental revenue streams. By investing in solutions that integrate key platform components and data, online retailers are able to offer self-service return capabilities to consumers.
A typical reverse logistics solution allows the consumer to more easily initiate the return by incorporating a pre-paid postage label within the box. This label can be integrated within the packing slip or it can be a separate stand-alone piece. Because the label generation is initiated by the warehouse management system, the label is able to capture key customer information for tracking purposes, both for CSR’s and the end consumer.
The label provides one primary source of value to the customer - convenience. No post office trip is needed and retailers improve overall customer satisfaction while facilitating the product return to the distribution center.
When consumers initiate returns through this process, retailers typically charge them a “handling fee”. This fee is typically 20% higher than the postage charge that was provided by the reverse logistics service provider. This dollar spread, between what is charged to the customer and what has been billed to the retailer for postage, generates direct and measurable profits for retailers.
Improving communication with online consumers
A reverse logistics solution can drastically improve customer communication during the return process. Newgistics is a great example of a reverse logistics provider that has customer-centric communication processes embedded in their overall solution.
After a return package is picked up from a consumer location, it is sent to a Newgistics hub for sorting and re-locating. During this process, there are strategic scanning mechanisms used to facilitate triggered and branded communication emails.
A consumer receives “retailer branded” email notifications when certain milestones are achieved in the return process, such as:
• Return receipt o (Ex. We have received your return and you should get a credit in the following days).
• Return Completion o (Ex. Your return has been processed)
Quick receipt of these emails enhances the confidence level of customers, reduces inbound customer service calls, and provides another value-added feature to boost the eCommerce relationship.
Your company is taking a great risk if it does not provide a great post-purchase site experience. Feel free to contact Trinity to learn more about this type of initiative and how we can help in discovery, scope, and implementation efforts.
Craig Smith
Trinity Insight LLC
http://www.trinityinsight.com
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About the Author: Craig Smith is the founder of Trinity Insight LLC - a leading consulting firm for the eCommerce sector
http://www.trinityinsight.com
