A Modern Challenge
A company navigates the promises and pitfalls of establishing a web presence
By Doug Harper -- Industrial Distribution, 2/1/1998
Whether future generations will credit the Internet's World Wide Web (WWW) with having the same profound effect upon society as they currently afford Gutenberg's invention of the printing press in 1436 remains to be seen.But what is undeniable is that the parallels between the two are striking. Like the Gutenberg printing press, the Web has made it possible for individuals and organizations to disseminate information quickly and inexpensively to a large audience. But if speed and expense count for anything, the Web far surpasses printing for its economies of scale. And unlike the printed page, the Web can instantaneously transmit text, graphics, audio and video to an audience of millions located throughout the world.
In fact, by almost any measure, the Web has grown at a far faster rate than virtually any other form of communication in history including
publishing, radio, television or film.
According to data from Atlanta-based Georgia Institute of Technology, a mere 1,250 Web servers were on the Internet in 1994. By mid-1997, that number had exploded to more than 1,000,000 as the Internet rapidly evolved into the fastest growing medium in the world with 30-40 million users. In addition, an estimated one million new users are accessing the "Net" each month.
Of equal significance is the fact that the character of Web sites is rapidly changing. One study found that in 1993, an insignificant 1.5 percent of all sites were maintained by business organizations. By 1996, the percentage had risen to 50 percent and still shows no sign of abating as companies increasingly come to view a presence on the Internet as crucial to their image.
But traditionally, industrial distributors have not been among the avant-garde when it comes to the acquisition and application of new technologies. In fact it has only been in recent years that the percentage of distributors using computers in any form has exceeded 50 percent while the percentage of those feeling the necessity of creating a Web site are still in a very distinct minority.
Consequently when Modern Group Ltd. -- a distributor of material handling, construction, and maintenance products-- decided to
establish a Web site two years ago, the move was considered somewhat revolutionary in the industry.
Modern's origins hark back to 1946 when the company began life as the Rapids Handling Equipment Company, a sales outlet for the Rapids-Standard Co., a conveyor manufacturer in Grand Rapids, Mich. Joseph McEwen served as a sales representative for the firm and was one of six employees working at the company's original location in Philadelphia. The firm took the name Modern Handling Equipment Company in 1955.
Today, the privately-owned Modern Group Ltd. -- which characterizes itself as "one of the nation's largest distributors"-- is headquartered in Bristol, Pa. and conducts business in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware. With Joseph McEwen filling the post of chairman and David E. Griffith as president and CEO, the company employs more than 530 people at 24 locations and has annual sales of more than $100 million.
Modern's business is divided into six separate companies: Modern Handling Equipment Co.; Modern Handling Equipment of NJ, Inc.; Modern Equipment Rentals, Inc.; Modern HiLift Equipment Company; Material Handling Equipment Company; and Seely Equipment & Supply Company.
The companies provide sales, leasing, rental, service, parts, training and financing for products including fork lifts, compaction equipment, aerial work platforms and loading dock equipment.
Modern's 10,000-plus customers represent industries including distribution, manufacturing, shipping, warehousing, construction, industrial maintenance, and public works.
Testing the Web Waters
The company's executive vice president, John F. Smith, notes that Modern's decision to go online with a Web site (www.moderngroup.com)
two years ago was undertaken almost as an experiment and that the company initially created the Web site in-house.
"Our motivation was strictly exploratory," recollects Smith, "just to see what it would do. In fact, two things were pushing us to look into a Web site. One was wanting to be among the first in our marketplace to have a presence on the Internet. And the second was to get broader and more intensified name recognition."
Smith notes that because Modern comprises six separate companies, its identity was frequently unclear to its clientele. "Even after being in business for 50 years, our name doesn't necessarily ring any bells when you see it," he reports.
But like many first efforts, Smith says that he doesn't feel that Modern's first Web site two years ago necessarily achieved the company's objectives.
"In fact I don't think the first shot did us a hell of a lot of good," he says candidly. "The first time around we did it very much by the seat of our pants and we didn't put a lot of money into it. Perhaps that's why, initially, our site didn't have a very professional look and it didn't do much for us," he claims.
Smith adds that, at the time, Modern didn't have a clear-cut idea of what it hoped its first Web site would accomplish or how the company could quantify its impact upon present and potential customers.
"When we went into this even our minimum expectations were somewhat unknown about what we were going to get out of it and how were we going to measure it. I suppose that it wasn't much different than a lot of other image advertising but our expectations were pretty minimal," Smith reports.
After its initial disappointment with its Web site, Modern decided that the creation of an effective site was beyond the company's in-house capabilities. As a result Modern hired Surfside Software Systems Inc. of Clearwater Beach, Fla., (http://surfside.com/tranware.htm) to host its site on Surfside's Web server.
"About the same time that we started working with Surfside, we hired a public relations firm which started improving the text so that we could reach those objectives of recognition with a little stronger emphasis," Smith remarks.
Caution: Construction Zone Ahead
But he concedes that Modern's Web site is still very much a "work in progress".
"What I've been trying to do and will continue to do is to make the site more user-friendly. We've been at this for nearly two years and I would have to say that we have a long way to go. And we still don't know if it's an effective marketing tool or not," Smith says.
While creating and maintaining Web sites is not inexpensive, when judged in terms of the standard media measurement of the cost per thousand impressions, a Web site can be a bargain. Despite the challenges of raising Modern's site from infancy to its current state of adolescence, Smith reports that its cost to Modern is quite reasonable.
"We're spending something under $5,000 a year with Surfside to maintain the site on its Web server and we paid the public relations firm another onetime charge of about $6,000 to design the site," Smith says.
But Modern is also in the process of bringing control of the Web site's content back inside the company where it originated two years ago.
"In the third phase of our site, we've taken the design and the verbiage in-house. We now have the capability to originate and scan pictures, and then transmit them electronically to Surfside by e-mail so we can make changes a lot faster," says Smith.
Hits Or Misses?
But as with any mass medium that doesn't generate immediate sales, the impact of a Web site can be difficult to monitor and even harder to quantify in meaningful terms.
While Web sites have the capability of measuring the number of accesses or "hits" they have received during a given time period, it is often impossible to determine the motivation of visitors unless they leave an e-mail message asking for additional information.
"When we first set up our site we used to measure 'hits' but we stopped doing it because I think it's useless information. Some people spend a couple of hours every night surfing the Net just out of curiosity. These people are not going to help us get a sales dollar," Smith emphasizes.
"One of the advantages of the Internet is its breadth of coverage but that's also one of the problems. While we make it a practice to get back to all of those people who made contact with us through our Web site, about 50 percent of the queries come to us from outside the states in which we do business," he says.
And when Smith says that Modern's Web site generates interest from outside the company's marketing area, he doesn't mean from contiguous states like New York or Ohio. Despite the fact that Modern's Web site conspicuously features a map showing the four states in which it operates, the company routinely gets requests for information from places as distant as Washington State, Florida and even New Zealand.
"I suppose that's better than too little attention," notes Smith, "but they're obviously not getting the message, and that's one of the things we need to define."
EDITOR'S NOTE: Doug Harper is a freelance writer who lives in New York. He can be reached at 212-777-1925.
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