Infomercial/teleshopping order fulfilment
Are you looking to run an infomercial but don't have the resources to handle the orders? Then speak to us. We can take stock of your products and pick and pack your customers orders on demand, providing quick turnaround times and low cost postage and packing.
Teleshopping is expected to grow significantly in the UK with the recent announcement that legislation is to be relaxed. The success of infomercials in the USA could well be replicated in the UK and already mainstream TV channels are offering teleshopping slots.
However finding the right product, producing a good infomercial, and selecting the best television channel isn't where it ends. A teleshopper's experience only really begins when they place their order, the most important stage in teleshopping is getting the product to the customer quickly, in good condition, and at the right price, so choosing the right fulfilment partner is key to any successful infomercial campaign.
Examples of our work
We handle fulfilment for single product and multi-product clients. For example Slanket.com is a US based business with one product 'the slanket', which after much popularity in the USA was launched in Europe and we fulfil these orders.
thatcuteage.com however is a business selling hundreds of baby products from clothing and toys to furniture, this was a small home-run business that needed to outsource to cope with demand and their success has continued since we took over the fulfilment in 2006.
What are 'infomercials' 'teleshopping' and 'DRTV'?
Infomercials are long-format television commercials, typically five minutes or longer. Infomercials are also known as paid programming (or teleshopping and DRTV in Europe). Originally, they were a phenomenon that started in the United States where they were typically shown overnight (usually 2:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m.)--outside of peak hours. Some television stations chose to air such programming as an alternative to the former practice of sign-off. By 2009, most US infomercial spending is during early morning, daytime, and evening hours. Stations in most countries around the world have instituted similar media structures.
The term "infomercial" is sometimes mis-applied and used to refer to direct response television advertisements (DRTV) of 60 to 120 seconds in length. However, the term describes program length advertisements which, in the US, are typically 28 minutes and 30 seconds in length. In the US, DRTV advertisements of 30 seconds to 2 minutes in length are typically called "short form" or "DRTV spots" and not included in the advertising industry's use of the term "infomercial". Note that in the US market, a small amount of media can be purchased for 5 minute length advertisements, although this time is quite limited. Outside of the US market, lengths depend on the lengths allowed by television stations and government regulators.
While the term "infomercial" was originally applied only to television advertising, it is now sometimes used to refer to any presentation (often on video) which presents a significant amount of information in an actual, or perceived, attempt to persuade to a point of view. Often, it is unclear whether the actual presentation fits this definition because the term is used hoping to discredit the presentation. In this way, political speeches may be derogatorily referred to as "infomercials" for a specific point of view.
The UK infomercial industry
Infomercials have been an advertising mainstay in the US for many years - UK companies however have been slow to fully exploit longform. Currently commercial television stations in the UK are granted a three hour tele-shopping window to broadcast each day, all broadcast content during a teleshopping window can advertise a product or service which is sold directly off the screen or online.
Of the 458 TV stations in the UK, over 115 broadcast three hour teleshopping windows every day.
This equates to 345 hours per day or 125,925 hours per annum. High profile stations carrying teleshopping windows include ITV 2, ITV 3, Film Four, Five US, Sky Sports One, Hallmark and Paramount.
In the UK teleshopping windows are broadcast mainly on cable and satellite but this is changing with several of the bigger mainstream TV channels now allocating three hours per day across different dayparts. The UK probably has more TV channels than any other European country.
Latest news - August 2009
Britain's Office of Communications (OFCOM) has ruled that the three hour restriction on infomercial airings "teleshopping" as it's referred to in Britain, is to be relaxed. While it's not yet clear what the new laws are, by lifting the three hour restriction, the amount of long form airtime available in the UK has increased dramatically overnight.
OFCOM also lifted the ban on terrestrial channels ability to run infomercial airtime, thus allowing Britain's largest television stations the ability to run infomercials after midnight. This new airtime, the most coveted in UK teleshopping, is being negotiated now.
In the face of declining advertising revenues from traditional advertisers, many see this deregulation as a turning point in the long form direct response television market, whose revenues have been more or less flat since 2006.
Why outsource your fulfilment to BTB Mailflight?
These are the main reasons we hope that BTB Mailflight will be the right fulfilment partner for your ecommerce business.
Competitive fulfilment prices
Because we set up our new 63,000 sq ft facility from scratch in early 2008 (after moving from our 30,000 sq ft fulfilment centre) it gave us the opportunity to review all our processes and IT systems to make sure we are doing things as efficiently as possible, and because we are utilising automated processes and are keeping our costs down we are able to offer extremely competitive fulfilment prices which is one main reason we won a lot of ecommerce fulfilment work in recent months.
We also provide some of the lowest UK and international postal and courier services available as we are part of Europe's second largest postal group, and we can source packaging materials and print at trade rates for you too. This all helps to make BTB Mailflight's fulfilment solution excellent value for money.
Low error rates
Our picking and packing processes are system driven as is stock control, we also employ reliable and experienced staff, so our error rates are very low. The fulfilment system also provides an audit trail so on the rare occasion a picking error occurs we can identify the cause and make sure it doesn't happen again.
Free up your time
Our aim is to leave you free to focus on marketing your business, sourcing your products, and concentrating on your business strategy, whilst we handle the job of fulfilling your products to your customers on time and in good order.
Scalability and flexibility
You don't want to be worrying about finding storage space and employing packing staff, especially when demand can fluctuate. We can gear up as and when necessary with our 63,000 sq ft operation.
Simple website integration
We have in-house IT system developers who can integrate our system with your website, find out more >>
Stay in control
We appreciate that outsourcing your business could give you a sense of lost control, however we provide transparent reporting so you are always up to date on what we have fulfilled for you during any given time period, what is outstanding, and what your stock position is. We can also report on returns, and analyse your customers.
24/7 online access to reports
Reports can be viewed online via a secure web portal so you can view them any time of day. More info >>
A dedicated Account Manager
You will be assigned a specific Account Manager so any queries you have will be dealt with by someone who you can build a relationship with.
Contact centre support
As well as processing your online orders we also have a Contact Centre that can support your ecommerce business by handling your customer queries or orders by phone, post and email. Offering these response channels as well as internet communication is often seen as a benefit by ecommerce customers.
CRM and direct marketing campaign fulfilment
We can help you achieve more profitable relationships with your customers through customer profiling and direct marketing services. This includes brochure and catalogue mailings, postcard mailings, catalogue requests, newsletter mailings, and email/telemarketing. ASOS, one of the internet's most successful ecommerce companies now also mail a very popular catalogue to approximately 500,000 people, and BTB Mailflight handle this mailing.