Exclusive: Lennox, Contractor Commerce to set the tone for future of eCommerce

Lennox and Contractor Commerce, the startup that provides plug-and-play online stores to contractors, are gearing up to bring Lennox dealers into the world of eCommerce through a new partnership. 

What’s going on: Paul Redman, Vice President of Sales at Contractor Commerce, announced on LinkedIn that Lennox Premier Dealers will be able to “initiate buying journeys” directly from Lennox’s dealer locator, which Contractor Commerce will power.

• Homeowners who visit Lennox.com can find a local dealer and navigate directly to their website to shop online for filters and full systems.

• “Instead of going to Lennox.com and requesting that someone contacts you, they can go all the way through the buying process directly on the dealer’s website; that’s what’s so key here. The action is initiated on Lennox.com, but it’s happening on the dealer’s website,” Redman told Homepros over the phone.

The big picture: Consumers shop online for just about everything, yet HVAC equipment has remained an exception.

• “Lennox gets millions of visitors per month and per year looking for information on equipment, and they want to make it easier [to buy], but they also don’t want to bypass their channel partner,” Redman said.

So: The companies are taking a different approach. He added, “Usually, manufacturers want to keep that traffic on their website, and Lennox is saying, ‘Nope, let’s let the homeowner go further through the process directly to the installing contractor’… [They’re] making it easier for their dealers to serve the modern consumer.”

• Contractor Commerce plugs into contractors’ existing websites, instantly turning them into online stores.

• Because a successful eCommerce strategy relies on getting website visitors, Lennox.com’s reach, and the resulting traffic, should be a big win for their contractors.

Looking ahead: There hasn’t been an official press release yet, but Redman noted, “The big goal is that a year from now, Lennox will have 2,000 dealers doing eCommerce from the Lennox.com homepage.”