eKourier April 2009

Helping the Community

Cate Altamura Founder and Director of HUG (Helping Ugandan Generations) recently contacted KSS for help. HUG collects books, toys, and clothing for families in Uganda. KSS have helped Cate at HUG before with the supply of boxes and tape and were happy to help out again. Cate says “ On behalf of HUG we would like to thank KSS for their kind donation of boxes and tape”.

Reverend Stephen Holmes of the Whittlesea and Kinglake Anglican Church would like to thank Kennards for their support of the Victorian bush fires. “Thank you for your generous support of our efforts to respond to the bushfire tragedy and rebuild our Kingslake Parish and community,” Reverend Stephen says. “We are working hard to help our friends, neighbours and community members who’ve been so terribly impacted by this disaster.”

Sarah Garnett from the Footpath Library came to Kennards in February asking for further support of her charity. We currently give storage space to the Footpath Library at our Brookvale centre where they store all their donated books which go towards a library for the homeless. Sarah told us she also wanted to help out the victims of the Victorian bush fires by supplying books to them. Sarahs plan is to send over 1000 books to Victoria and in the long run help to rebuild a Primary School Library.

The Significance of Online Presence During Momentum 08’ it became clear that KSS needed to harness and tap into the emerging online opportunities by innovating the customer experience and adapting to the preferences for the growing number of online customers. Marketing on the Internet is not really a choice anymore, but has almost become a necessity in today’s marketplace. More than 300 million people worldwide are online today, making choices and decisions around the clock on products and services in a market that is open 24 hours a day. Today, more and more customers are making purchases through the internet, consumers are snapping up the convenience factor and the ability to make quick informed decisions, favouring the web over traditional touch points. With this in mind, we have and will continue to strategically position KSS online, tuning, exploring, expanding our brand, our presence and most importantly the customer experience. 1. Development of the KSS web site - enhancing the visual appeal and positive first impression 2. Online Interactivity - personalising the customer experience by integrating communication and account tools 3. Recognising that Customers want options - expectations have changed, and customers expect the businesses they deal with to provide them with online options 4. Electronic Commerce - Internet commerce trends are compelling, the ability to complete a transaction end to end is now a requirement 5. Online Marketing - The most pervasive online marketing techniques being used today are online advertising 6. Customer Service - delivering superior Internet customer service delivers competitive edge 7. Search Engine Optimisation - although considered a science its really quite simple, the higher your rank in a search engine the greater the competitive edge Recognising and harnessing these opportunities ensures competitive edge and point of difference, their development offers an exciting new age and direction, all whilst bringing us closer to our customers and streamlining our operation. Jeff Xanthos How do we do this and what will shape the direction we take?

5

Kennards Kourier April 2009

45