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December 7, 2004
Shope Gets Web Savvy
Shope Concrete
Products, a concrete products manufacturer and
wholesale distributor, launched its presence on the
Internet with a new website. As mentioned by the
company President, Gary Hall, it's something
they've been planning for a while now. "We
talked about it, but it didn't seem important enough
to really pursue in early 2002. Sometimes it's
really difficult to know what customers will
actually use when it comes to anything technology
related. It's fairly common these days to have a
company website, but to actually have a website
customers will use is the challenge" said Hall.
According to PC Magazine, 72% of all small
businesses use e-mail for customer contact; 48% have
a website, and 28% sell goods and services online.
For most
businesses, adopting new technology into a
reasonable budget is challenging to do. And, the
question of whether or not customers will use that
technology often can't be answered until the
technology is in place.
PC Magazine found 45 million PC's regularly accessed
the Internet in the first quarter of 2004, up 43%
from the same period last year.
"I feel the
Internet finally arrived in late 2003 for most small
businesses", said Gary Hall. "Since the Internet is
so readily available to today's contractor, we
decided it was time to take the next step." Shope's
website includes basic information similar to most
small business websites, as well as valuable
resource material for contractors.
For future website updates, Shope plans to
grow and adopt technologies into their website as
their customer base demands it. "We will improve on
what we've already built, it's just a matter of time
in receiving customer feedback, and seeing how we
can improve the site and it's capabilities" said
Erik Hall, Shope's technology director. "I
think customers will like having our catalog online,
and the capability to check for catalog updates as
they become available. The site is straight forward
and easy to use. Customers have already voiced
positive feedback about our online catalog, which tells me
we're on the right track."
The Shope Concrete Products website was designed by Erik
Hall, one of three grandsons of the late John Henry Pattee, founder of Shope
Enterprises in 1964. "If my grandfather was
around today, yeah... he'd get a real kick out of
this. I
can recall many times when he'd comment about
wanting to know more about computers and the
Internet. Gramps was a thinker and a tinker. Computers really
intrigued him", said Hall.
Shope Concrete Products is a manufacturer and wholesale distributor
of precast concrete pipe, manholes, catch basins, and other
related concrete products. Shope Concrete Products provides local, state, federal, and regional contractors
products and
solutions for underground infrastructures in residential and urban
communities, businesses, streets, roads, and freeways.
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