News Article
20-11-2007
ECMOD 2007, Earls Court, London
This year, this show was extraordinary for Keystone Software. We met so many potential & existing customers on our stand (which you can see in the attached pictures, taken before the rush started), we are now frantically following up the most pressing enquiries. Kate Turner and the team from Partypacks were all the way up from beautiful Somerset, and we were pleased to hear the warehouse location control project is moving on apace. Big Dug Ltd came along and told us they are so pleased with their choice of new system last year, which is fantastic because their phenomenal growth rate could not be maintained without Khaos Control. Joe, the MD at Honour Ltd, popped on the stand to say hello; he hadn’t realised that 2˝ years have flown by since he originally installed the system. Wendy and Alfred, Directors of Fizzco, a brand new Khaos Control customer, called to see us too. We introduced them to a similar prospective customer, who was in the middle of having one of our demos, it was a surprise they had such a huge list of business issues in common (appointments for further discussions have already been made). Another brand new customer, Workwear Express of Durham, is in the process of installing the system so dropped by to say hello. It seemed almost the entire management team from International Dance Supplies were browsing the show, Anne, the MD, was in great form, even handing out one or two ‘thank you’ kisses to Mike and Paul, which is greatly appreciated for all the hard work that has been input to the delivery of their project over the last year; we are all looking forward to the next phases of growth. Georgie and Simon, who founded furniture retailer Myakka, were also circulating in between attending the conference programme as delegates.
We spoke to lots of other people we knew and many new ones too! It is surprising just how big an industry we are in. Some of us at Keystone have been going to ECMOD since 1992, and other shows like the Direct Marketing Fair for even longer than that, but still we continue to see new faces & companies and new innovative approaches to distance selling, mail order and multi-channel sales.
There were many common themes we heard in our conversations during the show, summarised below:
- It seems the web is by far and away the fastest growing channel for direct marketers, and it doesn’t seem to matter whether you are B2B or B2C. This channel has meant a considerable reduction in the cost of contact (emails, etc., in lieu of paper catalogues) and much higher response rates; it continues to require serious financial investment.
- The latest credit card security standards are giving all and sundry a headache. It is surprising how many companies including High Street retailers, and software suppliers too, are still not yet compliant (but all is well at Keystone!) (refer to ‘PCI DSS’)
- Customer communication and CRM is so much more important than it used to be to ensure constant contact with existing customers or enquirers/prospects; what’s the financial premium you pay for customer recruitment as opposed to customer retention?
- Why are there so many inadequate computer systems around especially at the low end of cost; it seems many SME’s have ‘blown’ their capital investment and wished they had spoken to us beforehand….. nice to hear, but frustrating for us and the customer!
If you want to know more about us and Khaos Control, contact us to arrange a visit by one of our experienced team and join the fastest growing multi-channel, mail order software community in the UK.