Australian Franchise News – 14-09-11
Leading Australian-owned pool and spa care franchise PoolWerx is making waves in e-retailing with the launch of its hybrid ‘bricks-and-clicks’ online store this month.
Pool owners nationwide can now select from the PoolWerx range of products including pumps, automatic cleaners, chlorinators, pool covers, filters, heating solutions, chemicals and pool toys simply by visiting our website.
PoolWerx CEO John O’Brien said the online store had been more than a year in the making.
“We spent 12 months researching and testing different approaches to find the most effective strategy before we began building the infrastructure for our e-store,” he said.
“Through our E-store we can give pool owners easy access to the range of PoolWerx products along with delivery and installation options where necessary.”
Mr O’Brien said the company’s physical footprint would be its biggest weapon in the competitive e-retailing environment.
“There are currently no pool and spa care businesses using a hybrid online/offline model such as ours, it is completely unique to the industry.”
“As a well established franchise our biggest advantage over online-only retailers is our existing fleet of over 300 mobile vans and our 65 retail stores across Australia and New Zealand.”
“When an online purchase is made through our e-store that order is relayed to the closest PoolWerx retail hub. The store’s franchise partners then meet the customer who placed the order when they personally deliver and install the products.”
“This not only helps to mitigate freight expenses, it also enables our franchise partners to get to know clients in their area and ensure any products purchased are correctly installed to warranty specifications.”
“We’re proud to offer this free installation service with any online purchase from the PoolWerx e-store.”
Mr O’Brien said there was strong evidence to support the company’s investment in the e-store.
“New research predicts Australians will spend more than $13.6 billion online in 2011 with internet spending forecasted to reach $21.7 billion by 2015*.”
”We’ve invested over $100,000 into our new website and e-store and we expect to see a return on that investment by the end of the spring / summer swimming season, based on strong anticipated demand.”
Mr O’Brien also said the new e-store would offer clients an unparalleled level of convenience as the only online store able to sell pool chemicals.
“We are the first e-store offering pool chemicals online and all of our franchise partners are fully qualified to deliver and administer these chemicals. This is a service that online-only pool stores cannot provide due to strict laws relating to the sale and distribution of chemicals.”
PoolWerx’ e-store is now live and can be accessed via the PoolWerx website.