We’ve all been to great brand sites where you can learn a lot about a product’s features and benefits.
But then what happens?
It seems that at many major brand sites whoever is in charge of creating links to the local retailer where you can actually buy the product isn’t paying much attention.
I don’t understand why if I’m on a brand site looking for a dishwasher, I find the one I like, I find via the dealer locator that Sears carries that brand in my neighborhood and then they link me to the top of the Sears site, where I have to start my search all over again. How hard would it be to connect me to the home appliance section of the Sears site?
Actually, the best solution is to connect from the dishwasher I’m interested in to that exact dishwasher product information on the local site in my area.
Technically it can be done and common sense tells us that it would be a better consumer experience, better for the retailer and better for the brand if there was a much smoother transition from the national site to the local retailer’s site.
So, why do so many brands drop the ball at this most critical moment?
I think it is simply the way companies are organized. Someone is in charge of the brand site, someone else is in charge of the dealer database and they just don’t bother talking to one another.
Maybe it should be the responsibility of the national sales manager to stand on the desk of web marketing guys until they figure out that the sale gets done in the local store and not at the brand site.
Creating a great brand site isn’t good enough, you’ve got to walk the consumer all the way to dealer’s cash register.