In 2013 Nectar, the south’s biggest trade drinks supplier, appointed Redwing to build their first website and online booking system. The solution allowed their clients to explore literally thousands of drinks and securely place regular and new orders with the minimum of fuss. Four years on we’ve recently launched Nectar’s updated website and for our latest Insight we decided to put some questions to their Marketing Manager, Sue Palmer, to get their take on the importance in their industry of a strong online presence and robust tech solution.
Redwing: For Nectar, what is the most important thing in a website and a web strategy?
Sue Palmer: Our online strategy is all about promoting our brand essence and our USP's. We pride ourselves on our originality, freshness and being bang on trend, which means reflecting our premium portfolio of over 3000 lines on our site, and being agile enough to respond, for example, to the 550 new products we listed last year. Offering our clients an easy-to-use, secure online booking system is now fundamental to how we run our business, coupled with a customer support team who are there to help.
RW: How has your requirement for a digital presence changed over the past 5-10 years?
SP: For over 30 years Nectar has been the leading drinks supplier to the trade in the south and we only launched our online presence in 2013. There are efficiencies that can be driven through online ordering but first and foremost we pride ourselves on our customer service so as a B2B company it was crucial to us that the website and online ordering system lived up to those same standards, and even enhanced them by offering that same level of service and a maximum level of convenience for our clients. The online ordering section is by far the most-used part of the website.
RW: Working in the beverage B2B industry, how does a digital presence help you grow your business?
SP: Firstly, the website and online ordering system means we have a constant, accessible presence for our clients, which is important because we're servicing an industry that never stops: the polar opposite of a 9 to 5 culture. Our customers work incredibly long hours and they need to be able to check new lines, find information and place new orders around the clock. By integrating our web offering with our e-newsletters we're also able to quickly communicate latest news, changes or offers to our clients, which in turn drives traffic back to the website. Finally, Redwing's digital interpretation of our brand has enabled us to strengthen our brand presence.
RW: For you, what is the role of a good digital agency?
SP: Firstly they need to take the time to understand your business from the bottom up because they need to be able to ingest and interpret all that information and distill it down into a digital strategy that works for your company and your customer base. So there's a lot of initial consulting and talking around the ways you work and your business needs. They then have to apply all of their expertise to develop the technical solution. Once the website and online systems launched, for us it's been important to have a fast response to any questions and for the whole thing to be built on technology we can trust.
RW: What do you think will be the next steps for developing your online presence?
SP: We'll look to further enhance our customer service by adding communication and support features online through the website. And if volume ever dictated that mobile access to the online ordering was getting high enough we may consider developing an app. It all comes down to what's best for the customer.
Redwing has provided integrated print and web design with online ordering to Nectar since 2013.