Porterhouse Limited

7 . Outcome

As the eBusiness solution only went live in May 2001, Porterhouse is still assessing the outcome of the initiative at this early stage. There are no quantifiable benefits yet.

Of 700 customers, 400 were targeted, 345 were mailed and 50 are using the website to place orders. Currently less than 10% of orders are taken online.

Porterhouse is pleased with the navigation, links and shopping basket. There is nothing lacking from the website at this stage but perhaps in the future the constraint on the number of customers may hamper the ability to set up more customers as stockists.

The company used to print colour catalogues and send them out by post. This is not done anymore resulting in savings and greater control over the image quality.

A feature of the eBusiness solution is that more customers are contacting the company directly. Agents still receive commission even if the customers contact Porterhouse to order directly, so do not mind if Porterhouse gets in touch with the retailers directly. Most of the agents are not familiar with new technology but do not feel threatened by the possibility of disintermediation due to Porterhouse’s approach. The website initiative has enabled Porterhouse to obtain the email addresses of its customers and implicit permission to target email shots directly at them. There is an opportunity to further establish relationships with customers, often by answering the customer service enquiries that arise.