Hello Joel:

I don't think all my customer base will dissapear, but certainly my already small niche will shrink. Nice idea of having a web integrator for final customers. I would replace my customers! I could offer that solution directly to factories, and market that solution to end users.

That's a great Idea with huge potential. Maybe I can make a bridge between the factories and my current middle man customers so the factory routes orders from my site directly to them! The potential is endless.

Thanks for your input. I'll let you know.


>Hi Victor,
>
>Is it really so easy to get rid of the middle-man? Most companies welcome others that will sell for them, even if it means paying a commission. But, if that's going to happen, is there something you can do to help your current customers survive or transition to other kinds of business? Will customers be expected to go to a different web site for every factory? Is that something you could create a solution for? Your current market is your area of expertise and you already have your foot in the door. New markets are hard to find and existing ones are even harder to get into.
>
>>Hello Charles.
>>
>>Thanks for your input. Actually my staff handles some of those requests, but my customers don't have a clear migration path. Their business is to buy in bulk from the factory, lets say cigarretes. Then they send salesmen to its sales territory and get orders, then they dispatch the orders. What will happen in the following years is that the factories will set up wharehouses and get orders from phone/internet to dispatch themselves, saving about 15% of profit margin. So my very base of customers might dissapear in the coming years. The factories, of course, are using SAP or something like that to manage this.
>>
>>I have about 3-5 years to find something different, but I need to.
>>
>>
>>Regards
>>
>>>>Hello all.
>>>>
>>>>I have a big problem. We are in a niche market, our vertical application is software for massive sales. You have 100-200 salespeople who visit customers and returns with orders to be batch proccesed and dispatched the next day. So far so good, we are THE SPECIALISTS in that niche and now we get good cash on it. The problem? The market doesn't grow. It's hard to export to other countries (It took us 2 years to get our first big customer and we need to have a support staff on site, big costs). Also, developed countries usually have solved this problem having the customers ordering via phone/internet, so the sales people doesn't work the way the system works. Also, there are market leaders already.
>>>>
>>>>I think in 3-5 years our target market will decrease. As you can see, we now have cash but can't reinvest in our core business because the target market is too small. I'd like to invest into development of another fast growing niche market application who can support my company in the future. Any ideas?
>>>>
>>>>TIA
>>>
>>>You say your target market is going to decrease - perhaps because of changes in your customer base or in the technologies that are available to them for purchasing. Perhaps you should focus on ways you can benefit specifically from those changes or even guide them. For example if web will increase - or there will be an increasing demand for computer infrastructure to support that you might want to have a clear transition path for your customers that involves continuing to get whatever technology or services they will need from your company. Give the customers of your successful business a way of continuing to stay with you.