Many peoples, as well as hospitals and other health care facilities, need more medical equipment. Owning your own business is a great way to establish financial freedom and become your own boss. Businesses related to the health care field are especially profitable right now, as the demand for health care services continues to increase. That is why now is the perfect time to learn how to create an Online Home Medical Equipment business?
By now, everyone knows HME suppliers should be selling online through their own websites. Some have gone down that path and succeeded, while others have failed. Perhaps more surprising is the number of folks who remain on the sidelines. Whether you have tried selling online and failed or have never tried it at all, the information in this series will hit home.
In this article, I aim to change your thinking about e-commerce and dispel any misconceptions you may have. I will tell you what you need to know to get started. This is the first article in a four part series about complementing your existing business with e-commerce.
The objective is to discuss specific steps and strategies that will help you to provide better service and generate new forms of revenue, but my objective is to focus on suppliers who want to maintain their core businesses and use online technology as a strategy to satisfy their customers while increasing sales and providing a better care experience.
Let’s take a look into the four part series:
Part One
It will focus on a broad overview of the retail sales aspect of the HME industry, and then an overview of retail or cash sales options available using e-commerce. Specifically, why are you not using e-commerce to sell retail/cash items to your customers?
Part Two
It helps you define the relationship between your core business and online retail or cash sales. Do you want to build an Internet presence to compete with the thousands of online retailers spending massive amounts of money advertising online, or are you trying to capitalise on complementing your core business with an online retail business to support your customers?
Part Three
It will target on the best practice elements of setting up and running an online store. We will discuss everything from finding suppliers, pricing contracts, MAP pricing, customer service, hosting options, site security, customer reviews, social media marketing, keeping a site updated and the amount of staff time and expertise required to properly run a site.
Part Four
Based on the sales tax complications of running an online store, as well as some potential legal exposure.
I would like to start by making a couple of assumptions:
- You should be selling as many retail items as you can in order to provide a better customer care experience.
- You should have some type of online presence that includes e-commerce capabilities.
Now that I have told you what you already know, let’s dig deeper into exactly why and how this can be accomplished. The concept of selling retail products for cash has been thrown around this industry for years, caused mostly by competitive bidding and the effects it has had on the industry.
It is a leading topic in industry news, so chances are good that you have read and heard much on this topic. However, what I personally find lacking is content on how to use e-commerce technology to complement your retail sales efforts.
To be clear, there are many great presentations and articles that focus on merchandising your showroom or maximizing your floor space. There are also many great presentations about developing a strong sales force, proper sales training for employees, marketing strategies and social media use.
By now, you probably have some sort of in store retail strategy and even some type of company website and or social media presence. You have possibly seen some sort of increase in your revenue that comes from the sale of DME items sold at retail. The reality is, there is more you are missing out on that you can do using e-retail.
What is E- Retail?
E-retail is the online merchandising of products your customer needs combined with the ability to complete the sale transaction through a website or web application for the purpose of generating revenue and improving the care experience.
If you do not have a website where your customers and your salespeople can complete a retail sales transaction online, the first question is, “Why not?”
- Does it cost high to set up an e-commerce website?
- Do you confused over current technology that changes rapidly?
- Whether it cost additional staff, infrastructure and expertise needed to manage on online store?
- Was it finding the right suppliers with the right pricing so you can make a respectable profit margin?
- Have a fear of competing with online retail giants?
- Are you facing any risk of purchasing and getting stuck with inventory you can’t move?
- Is it the risk that the costs will outweigh any benefit?
These are all legitimate concerns and risks associated with getting involved in setting up and operating an e-commerce website.
If you want to know about HME market value tactics to grow your business. Take a glance to our recent article https://wonderws.com/dme-market-value-tactics-business-grow/
Conclusion
If you have the option of creating an online HME business that caters to the public or just has the business sell to doctors, hospitals and other medical professionals. When searching for a facility, consider leasing or purchasing space in or near communities that have a large population of elderly clients. You may find you can create additional profit by offering delivery services for all of your medical supplies. This allows seniors and individuals suffering from injuries or disabilities not to have to worry about how they are going to get their supplies home. Even though some seniors aren’t online, you still may find that establishing a website increases sales for your business.
Do you want to know more about on creating an online HME Business to increase sales?
Get in touch with our team today or Contact Us.