In the last few months a leading wholesaler reported that their on-line sales had grown by almost 100% to a very significant part of their business.

Tesco have announced that they are doubling the numbers of drivers and vans for their on line delivery service due to increasing demand. Tesco report a 14% increase year on year in online sales and ecommerce analysts Forrester Research have just predicted annual growth of 11% in online retail sales every year for the next 5 years. These are just a few examples of how on line ordering is influencing business in the retail and wholesale sectors across the UK.

Online ordering is now normal to many consumers in several key sectors – for Books, Amazon is the first destination for many people, for music, iTunes has substantial market share and anyone who has bought a house recently is sure to have visited Prime Location or Right Move. Over time, more and more sectors will witness their revenues being equally divided between retail stores and online ecommerce sites.

In a tough economy it is good strategic management to seek growth opportunities and new routes to market. The “early adopters” of ecommerce, such as Tesco and Booker are demonstrating that there is a clear opportunity to drive revenues through online trading. Now is an ideal time for other wholesale operators to seriously consider establishing an online ecommerce presence and promoting it as an additional offering to customers.

For retailers and caterers who are short of time, the ability to order goods at any time of the night or day is certainly attractive and also increases the window of time that they can shop. Equally, for professional business users who usually have frequent access to PCs during working hours, online ordering is the most straightforward and convenient way to shop and is likely to already be in place in their businesses for the purchase of stationery, office equipment and IT.

What are the costs to establish an ecommerce site? These days, setting up an online ordering facility can be quick and cost effective. So much so, that a wholesaler wanting to establish an ecommerce site for their business could do so in less than a month, with the right support. Hosted solutions remove hefty start up costs and also take away the need to buy and maintain expensive servers and IT infrastructure.

Hosting also means that the responsibility for ensuring that your website is live and functioning belongs to someone else.

JPA has extensive experience in this area and can add its expertise and knowledge of the wholesale sector to address the key requirements that ensure a successful launch. JPA has run successful wholesale ecommerce sites for over 5 years that can give the wholesaler as much interactivity and functionality as they need.