Spotlight on Website World: using trade pricing on your eCommerce website

COVID-19’s arrival on our shores saw the life expectancy of many businesses shorten – especially those in our burgeoning tourism sector. Conversely, the pandemic was the shot in the arm for many Kiwi eCommerce – or soon to be eCommerce – retailers. And as these businesses have taken off – so too have opportunities to expand into the world of business to business trade. With that in mind, we sat down with Reuben Jackon, CEO of Website World, to ask some questions about trade pricing in eCommerce.

What is Trade Pricing?

Trade pricing is the same as wholesale pricing. It is the cost of goods or materials that are sold to another business at a price lower than what the general public would pay. Generally, it is expected that in order to obtain trade pricing, the purchasing business should be buying large quantities of products which they will then resell for a profit at your recommended retail price. In terms of setting trade or wholesale pricing, the goal is to sell the product at a higher price than it cost to make, earning a profit. Also selling at trade price only – or a combination of trade and retail prices – is a realistic plan. 

What are trade pricing options and benefits?

- Discount prices – category-wide discounts with start and end dates, making pricing management and promotion easier. - Sale prices – show an RRP for specific products in addition to the checkout/discounted price, then revert pricing back to RRP after the promotion ends. - Member pricing can be unique per product. Products can be displayed to all users, but only logged-in members can see pricing and purchase. Or you can display the pricing to all, but only logged-in members can purchase, or guests can purchase - the choice is yours. - VIP pricing – to encourage repeat purchases or subscriptions, VIP pricing will be displayed to members who are logged in to the website. - Individual member pricing – if 8 price tiers are not enough, there is the opportunity for unlimited unique prices per member per product. - Customer discount rates – a global discount rate can be assigned to each customer, so when logged in the products they see are discounted automatically by a chosen percentage. - Quantity price breaks – this allows price breaks for purchases of multiple products, can limit purchases to minimum quantities and allow partial unit purchases. - Product options, stock control and option pricing - add price variations for different product options, limit purchases to combinations of product options and manage individual product option configurations. !courier-delivery-.jpeg

When you have the ability to tailor your pricing to specific audiences, your business is better positioned to attract a larger range of customers, including B2C. Allocating pricing to member-only ensures that your wholesale prices remain confidential and unknown by the general public and those customers of your reseller too. Your business can also sell your products to a wider audience by using resellers to promote and sell them for you. - Reuben Jackon CEO of Website World

What is Website World?

Website World solves problems unique to NZ online shops and eCommerce. For example, rural delivery fees are costly for small businesses that sell low cost or low margin items, e.g. a box of chocolates. They cannot afford to offer flat delivery fees to rural areas, due to the surcharge that couriers add. Website World understands the NZ and Australian postal code system and can detect when rural delivery addresses, and can enforce the right fees are charged for delivery. Trade pricing is built in to Website World, to ensure that trade customers can get special pricing. Some customers may get better pricing than others, such as large chain retail stores that buy in bulk. The trade pricing in Website World can be set at a customer group level, or finely controlled for individual customers for individual products. 

How Is Website World accelerating the use of digital tech in NZ?

Our introduction of a web-based Point of Sale (POS) system has enabled merchants to have their shop POS and website continuously in sync. Take, for example, a shop wanting to sell the last item on the shelf. If they sell it in-store, someone might also buy it online the same day, and that online customer will get a shock to discover the item was already sold, even though they had paid for it online. The combined eCommerce POS solution also ensures that vouchers purchased online can be redeemed in-store, or vice versa and loyalty points likewise can be earned and redeemed in-store or online. 

What does it mean to be part of the Alliance? 

Website World was excited to be offered the opportunity to join the Digital Boost Alliance. Website World trades heavily on our New Zealand identity. Our software was developed in NZ and our help desk support is provided from NZ. Our cloud service solves problems that are unique to NZ businesses. It's important for us to be connected with NZ industry partners and fly the flag for NZ made technology. We encourage more businesses to join the Digital Boost Alliance to help foster digital technology adoption in NZ, and to present homegrown solutions that solve other unique issues for NZ businesses. 

Website World’s commitments to the Alliance 

Website World is committed to offering the following support as part of the Digital Boost Alliance Initiative:

• Free websites Free websites for students and youth enterprise projects. 
• Half price website hosting Half price web hosting for WINZ funded business startups, or new businesses on approved business startup programs. 
• Discounted website hosting Discounted website hosting for charities, sports teams, churches and non-profit organisations
• Free website hosting A free month of web hosting for all new businesses referred by the Digital Boost Educate programme.
• Free website setup and help Free website setup (customisation of a theme to match your brand colours, uploading a banner/logo image, and pasting any text provided. Free help up to a maximum of 30 minutes.