Information from the internet

Even the windows sector will have to adapt to the growing significance of the internet. However, at present the personally conveyed expertise of a professional on the spot plays a considerably greater role for the majority of people than information from the net. More­over, buying windows on the internet is not actually an issue for prospective customers at the moment. This is the main gist of the findings of a survey that was carried out on the initiative of Roto Frank AG. Founded in 1935, this German company is headquartered in Leinfelden-Echterdingen and remains wholly family-owned. It has twelve production facilities worldwide and over 40 own sales subsidiaries and business partners. The group’s two divisions, window and door technology (hardware technology for windows and doors) and roof solutions and solar technology (roof windows and accessories, solar systems, loft ladders), generated net sales of € 656 mio in 2011. The Forsa Institute of Berlin was responsible for carrying out telephone interviews with around 500 respondents over 18 years old for each of the countries surveyed in the summer of 2012. The institute discovered that consumers looking for specialist information on the internet in Germany, Benelux, Spain and Poland prefer to have recourse to manufacturers’ online sites. By contrast, discussion forums and social networks like Facebook, etc, are of little significance in Germany, Benelux or Spain. Online information from trade dealers and craftsmen is also popular, while DIY stores provide them with competition mainly in Spain and Poland. When it comes to windows, the internet has not so far achieved the status as a source of information as that obtained from dealers or tradesmen “on the spot”. Online research is of relatively minor significance in all four of the regions surveyed. It was rated as “less important” by 36 per cent of consumers in both Germany and the Benelux countries, by 47 per cent in Spain and 33 per cent in Poland. The range of responses under the “more important” heading fluctuated between 21 per cent (Spain) and 34 per cent (Benelux). The range in the “just as/equally important” category fluctuated between 25 per cent (Benelux) and 36 per cent (Poland). Download: