Drifting slightly off topic, I think the main reason that supplier's websites are "sooooo last year" is because the majority of the guys are long term suppliers from way before this interwebby thing. Richard was around in the late 70s/early 80s when the sum total of advertising was a page in the "Club Lotus" magazine and possibly the Lotus Drivers Club if/when that came out. Both mags are now quite professional and both clubs also have an online presence so you'll probably hit 80%+ of UK Lotus enthusiasts that way, more than you'd do from a google search for your own website.
I'm not trying to do these guys down when I say I doubt they'll see a lot of profit in creating or maintaining a website in the manner of say, Amazon. I'm willing to bet they have to pay someone else to do the details for them, they will probably have to take photographs and write technical descriptions for someone else to update with prices and sort out the purchase model.
So it's a direct tax on their profits. Will they make enough extra to cover the costs ? Doubtful in the case of our cars because it's a very limited market and very few cars are driven 10k/year and actually wear out like they used to do !
Compare with a modern lotus elise and they are well served, Eliseparts (
https://www.eliseparts.com/ ) have a nifty website, slick and very easy to buy from, and that's because it's a bigger and more modern market. Gary started up with the S1 Elise and has grown along with Elise forums where the website is expected and probably 95% of his business model.
Closing on a positive note, SJS Lotus do quite well these days and I've noticed that Kelvedon (under new ownership) are making progress even if their website isn't as slick as the other contenders. For TC engine parts, Burton & QED are pretty good in both description and sending stuff out.
So the compromise is a website that just announces their presence, what they do and what they sell.
Brian
