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Local web sites: let's be pragmatic!
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 The calling into question of the new economy has prompted firms already on the Net to downsize their internet projects. After e-commerce sites and centralized portals, a new tendency is emerging, based on a more pragmatic approach of the web's stakes, namely local web sites. Typical of this new tendency is the success of companies like e-local which just raised 30 million FF to develop "city-guides". These web guides displaying practical information and local news for every city are blossoming. According to a survey by CoSpirit Research on consumers' attitudes offline and online, 70% of the shoppers use the internet to get information, though they generally prefer buying in a "physical" shop. A local web site's mission is to address people close to the company by providing local information and services. This sort of site is administered in a decentralized way; a chain does not need to put effort on the management of its central portal anymore. All it needs to do is to favour the emergence of a network of local web sites, managed by the points of sale themselves and who are in position to bring value added services that will generate traffic to the stores. |
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Car dealers sites
French car manufacturer Renault puts its car dealers at the center of its new Internet strategy. They are indeed unavoidable in cars selling since European manufacturers have no legal right to sell directly on the net. Above all however, car dealers are essential for the sales act (negotiation, persuasion) as well as for after sales (maintenance, guarantee, options, etc.). On the Renault.fr portal, the 840 French car dealers benefit from a personal space where clients can contact them once they have chosen the model they want or when they want to make an appointment. Car dealers can also publish their second hand offers online, which is typically a useful service if handled locally. An "Internet coordinator" per car dealer site has been trained; his role is to answer emails and to publish second-hand ads and special offers.
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This network of sites based on the model of car dealers' networks is particularly adapted to the automotive sector where car dealers are an intangible element of the distribution chain. Car dealers' web sites would have all the more impact if they were real web sites, with their own URL (on the contrary to a sub-directory lost somewhere in the portal pages) and with intrinsic dynamic features (instead of a few static pages). Management of the site without prior technical training would also be a real advantage.
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