For anyone who thought the Internet might be a fad and wouldn’t have a lasting impact on the business world – sorry. The digital revolution has come and gone, and the Internet won. Even industries that primarily serve customers as notoriously technophobic as the elderly, such as the home medical supply industry, have had to take the plunge in order to stay ahead of the pack.

One of this issue’s featured companies, Invacare Supply Group, hasn’t given up on print catalogs and circulars to help its retailer customers, but understood the necessity of establishing an online presence. In Invacare’s case, Vice President of Sales and Marketing Greg Bosco explains, it partnered with Wired Retail Solutions and its president, Kevin Roseff, to help customers join the 21st century.

Roseff says the company works with Invacare’s customers to set up an Internet shopping portal that allows consumers to shop for their medical supplies at home and have them delivered directly. This not only provides retailers with another way to engage the consumers, but also a means of serving them when their physical supplies are low.

Because most retailers don’t have the time or resources to set up and manage these Web portals themselves, Roseff says, the company makes the process as simple as possible. “We’ve made it a turnkey, so the dealer, if they choose the site, they would just supply us with their brand name,” Roseff says. Wired Retail Solutions updates and maintains the site, but retailers can still have a say in which product lines to stock online.

“The site itself is robust and engaging in the sense that it’s real-time,” Roseff says. “Looking at this retail environment, your store is never closed with this Web site.”

The key to making any online portal a success is in properly promoting it, Roseff explains. He says many customers in the past have believed that simply building a Web site was enough. “The goal is to engage the customer, and that’s what myself and [Invacare] try to profess,” he says. “You have to let your local customer know, and you have to let your community know.”

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Invacare Supply Group