{"id":56219,"date":"2023-07-20T11:16:29","date_gmt":"2023-07-20T18:16:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/?p=56219"},"modified":"2023-07-20T11:16:32","modified_gmt":"2023-07-20T18:16:32","slug":"ecommerce-and-territory-infringement-tackling-a-sticky-issue-for-oems-and-resellers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/the-week-in-imaging-twii\/editors-blog\/2023\/07\/ecommerce-and-territory-infringement-tackling-a-sticky-issue-for-oems-and-resellers\/","title":{"rendered":"Ecommerce and Territory Infringement: Tackling a Sticky Issue for OEMs and Resellers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to traditional MFP\/copier sales, industry dealers have established territory rights set forth by their manufacturer partners that dictate which geographic areas are kosher for doing business. Companies that offend this edict will have their assets seized, doors barred and effectively banned from selling for a five-year period. OK, so maybe we\u2019re embellishing\u2026consult your OEM representative for actual rules and regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a more serious note, there is an interesting footnote on the subject of customers who find dealers through their websites; more specifically, their ecommerce platforms. In this case, should dealers be compelled to turn away new-found business from a client located beyond their traditional selling boundaries? Is this a gray area?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Anthony Sci, Keypoint Intelligence<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

For those dealers that use certain tools, such as Keypoint Intelligence\u2019s UVERCE, territory infringement is not as great a factor. As Anthony Sci, president and CEO of Keypoint noted in a Q&A with ENX Magazine: \u201cThe beauty is you can enter the ZIP codes for whatever dealership is serving those counties. When the end-user goes to check out, if it\u2019s a county or ZIP that the dealer doesn\u2019t cover, it won\u2019t let the customer proceed with the order. There are also other dealers, mainly printer dealers, who have no territory restrictions, so they\u2019re less likely to have those restrictions on their website.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still Developing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As not every dealer has territory restrictions, and not every ecommerce platform in the industry utilizes UVERCE, this can make for a mixed bag of rules without an accepted standard. Chip Miceli, CEO of Pulse Technology, doesn\u2019t believe it\u2019s practical to establish sales territories where ecommerce is concerned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Chip Miceli, Pulse Technology<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe subject of ecommerce territories has caught the attention of our industry and has been debated nationally at a few industry meetings that I\u2019ve attended recently, including American Coop and a Sharp conference in St. Lucia,\u201d he said. \u201cDealers are asking how to handle the matter of territories if they receive orders from outside of defined service areas. The industry continues to evaluate the question.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Miceli also noted that Kyocera is doing some research and work on a program to see if it can offer a solution for this issue. Thus, it definitely appears to be a fluid situation without consensus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more likely dealers are to target their advertising efforts to the local markets they serve, the less likely it is for them to attract end-users beyond their geographic scope. But the online community is a global one, and a dealer\u2019s blog providing tips\/tricks on any type of product or service can attract the attention of would-be buyers beyond imagined boundary lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Keven Ellison, AIS<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Keven Ellison, vice president of marketing for AIS in Las Vegas, believes that as long as manufacturers standardize pricing for ecommerce, it then becomes a question of delivering service and support. AIS offers three options with free shipping for clients within its territories: printers can be drop-shipped directly to the client, it can be picked up locally, or the dealer can deliver the device (a more comprehensive white glove delivery and setup is available at a cost for local clients).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a different buy,\u201d Ellison noted. \u201cPeople typically go to an online retailer\u2019s store\u2014a Costco, Best Buy, Staples or Office Depot\u2014purchase it, take it home and set it up themselves. Unless you\u2019re allowing your enterprise customers in your territory to use the back end [ecommerce portal] and purchase everything they want, they generally have the expectation that it\u2019s going to be drop-shipped to them. And that\u2019s one thing we had to consider in order to provide free shipping. We had to figure out what it was going to cost if there was somebody outside of our territory who wanted it shipped to them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best Buyers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Tim Renegar, Kelly Office Solutions<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Selling via ecommerce to clients outside of their territories is not in the best interests of a company such as Kelly Office Solutions of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The ZIP code question to filter out beyond-limits buyers is only one of five key questions that can help ensure the dealer is maximizing its potential from a service standpoint, according to President Tim Renegar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe whole idea is to sell it where we can service it,\u201d he said. \u201cAll of that information we collect for the build-out process\u2014the number of prints they make, the number of people who are in the office\u2014will allow us to determine how to build out a service contract, and then the buyer can select from several options that would be added to their payment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When it comes to traditional MFP\/copier sales, industry dealers have established territory rights set forth by their manufacturer partners that dictate which geographic areas are kosher for doing business. Companies that offend this edict will have their assets seized, doors barred and effectively banned from selling for a five-year period. OK, so maybe we\u2019re embellishing\u2026consult your OEM representative for actual rules and regulations. On a more serious note, there is an interesting footnote on the subject of customers who find dealers through their websites; more specifically, their ecommerce platforms. In this case, should dealers be compelled to turn away new-found business from a client located beyond their traditional selling boundaries? Is this a gray area? For those dealers that use certain tools, such as Keypoint Intelligence\u2019s UVERCE, territory infringement is not as great a factor. As Anthony Sci, president and CEO of Keypoint noted in a Q&A with ENX Magazine: \u201cThe beauty is you can enter the ZIP codes for whatever dealership is serving those counties. When the end-user goes to check out, if it\u2019s a county or ZIP that the dealer doesn\u2019t cover, it won\u2019t let the customer proceed with the order. There are also other dealers, mainly printer dealers, who have no territory restrictions, so they\u2019re less likely to have those restrictions on their website.\u201d Still Developing As not every dealer has territory restrictions, and not every ecommerce platform in the industry utilizes UVERCE, this can make for a mixed bag of rules without an accepted standard. Chip Miceli, CEO of Pulse Technology, doesn\u2019t believe it\u2019s practical to establish sales territories where ecommerce is concerned. \u201cThe subject of ecommerce territories has caught the attention of our industry and has been debated nationally at a few industry meetings that I\u2019ve attended recently, including American Coop and a Sharp conference in St. Lucia,\u201d he said. \u201cDealers are asking how to handle the matter of territories if they receive orders from outside of defined service areas. The industry continues to evaluate the question.\u201d Miceli also noted that Kyocera is doing some research and work on a program to see if it can offer a solution for this issue. Thus, it definitely appears to be a fluid situation without consensus. The more likely dealers are to target their advertising efforts to the local markets they serve, the less likely it is for them to attract end-users beyond their geographic scope. But the online community is a global one, and a dealer\u2019s blog providing tips\/tricks on any type of product or service can attract the attention of would-be buyers beyond imagined boundary lines. Keven Ellison, vice president of marketing for AIS in Las Vegas, believes that as long as manufacturers standardize pricing for ecommerce, it then becomes a question of delivering service and support. AIS offers three options with free shipping for clients within its territories: printers can be drop-shipped directly to the client, it can be picked up locally, or the dealer can deliver the device (a more comprehensive white glove delivery and setup is available at a cost for local clients). \u201cThis is a different buy,\u201d Ellison noted. \u201cPeople typically go to an online retailer\u2019s store\u2014a Costco, Best Buy, Staples or Office Depot\u2014purchase it, take it home and set it up themselves. Unless you\u2019re allowing your enterprise customers in your territory to use the back end [ecommerce portal] and purchase everything they want, they generally have the expectation that it\u2019s going to be drop-shipped to them. And that\u2019s one thing we had to consider in order to provide free shipping. We had to figure out what it was going to cost if there was somebody outside of our territory who wanted it shipped to them.\u201d Best Buyers Selling via ecommerce to clients outside of their territories is not in the best interests of a company such as Kelly Office Solutions of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The ZIP code question to filter out beyond-limits buyers is only one of five key questions that can help ensure the dealer is maximizing its potential from a service standpoint, according to President Tim Renegar. \u201cThe whole idea is to sell it where we can service it,\u201d he said. \u201cAll of that information we collect for the build-out process\u2014the number of prints they make, the number of people who are in the office\u2014will allow us to determine how to build out a service contract, and then the buyer can select from several options that would be added to their payment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":56220,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[80,1650,82,1638],"tags":[3572],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56219"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/166"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56219"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56219\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56221,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56219\/revisions\/56221"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}