Discover how EUROPAGES customers have benefitted from the European B2B search engine and all the services available on EUROPAGES. The following success stories describe the problems facing our customers and show how EUROPAGES was able to satisfy their specific needs. Thank you to all our customers!
How would you describe your activity?
We manufacture welding machines intended for industrial use. These are machines with which the general public is not familiar. Each has a specific function, whether it be welding lathes, welding positioners, or machines that are operated automatically via a robotic computer program that we developed ourselves.
Who are your customers?
Industrial enterprises; our activity is exclusively B2B.
What do you do to stand out from the competition?
Our difference lies in the fact that we are able to transform standard products into specific ones. You could call that a "flexible delivery". But above all, the quality of our products. That is what clearly distinguishes us from our competitors, especially our Asian competitors.
What means do you employ to promote your activity?
First and foremost, our corporate website and our listing on Europages. We also occasionally invest in advertising banners on specialised sites. As far as our "offline" promotion is concerned, we still send out the odd paper mailing, although this has become fairly rare. We also engage in certain marketing actions such as phone campaigns with our partners, but again, this is infrequent.
What kind of customers have you reached via Europages?
Most of the time, Europages puts us into contact with customers from all over Europe who are looking for products similar to ours. These are people who are knowledgeable about welding, and who are sometimes experts in this field. Their searches are usually to compare potential suppliers in Europe. We are talking about professional customers with highly specific requirements, and who have done their homework on our machines.
This is fairly logical process in fact: our Europages listing includes an online catalogue with image galleries of all our machines, together with details of their specifications. I can't say exactly how many of our machines are listed, probably thirty or so. The fact that they are referenced by a handful of keywords means we gain a considerable amount of ground in terms of referencing! Any keyword associated with one of our machines takes the customer to our E*Page. Keywords are the tools that professionals need.
When you manufacture welding positioners and your trade name is not widely recognised, you have to be able to count on good referencing to make yourself known. Even though our competitors are all big names, prospects manage to find us via these keywords.
What proportion of your revenue is obtained through export?
We don't export at all. At one stage we wanted to pursue this avenue, but the insurmountable difficulties we faced just as we were about to enter the overseas market forced us to renounce.
Do you count on Europages to help you in this respect?
Yes, when we subscribed to Europages, we thought that translating our ads into other languages would be enough to promote our activity outside France. But then we realised that in order to sell our products abroad, even if only within Europe, we needed an export partner. The fact is that machines similar to ours can be found fairly easily throughout Europe. In order to do business overseas, you have to be physically present in that country. In industry, which is already a mature market, trying to outshine a local competitor is far from easy. Added to that is the very considerable expense of shipping a welding machine overseas.
What improvements to Europages would you suggest?
I would say that you need to improve your referencing system. Keywords represent the bridge between a company and its potential customers on the net, unless that company already enjoys a huge notoriety. That means it is very important – crucial in fact – to maintain your efforts in this respect. I also think the online catalogues could do with an improved layout and better functionality. These need to be featured more prominently.
