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Dear colleagues and friends,
I
am delighted to share with you that the
preparations for the FIAT-IFTA Annual Meeting
2023, 7 to 9 June – Varna, Bulgaria, are well
underway. The Union of the Funeral Companies
in Bulgaria and FIAT-IFTA International Office
have been busy making sure this meeting will be
a successful, educational and enriching experience
for everyone. I am personally really looking forward
to meeting all our colleagues and friends from
across the region, and all over the world in person.
During the three-day program, we will have our
annual FIAT-IFTA I.C.D. (International Council
of Direction) meeting which will be a great
opportunity to set out the next steps for the
development of the organization. During the
Conference we will discuss digital aspects of the
funeral industry, sustainable practices in the
funeral industry especially in thanatopraxy. This
year’s meeting is going to be a great opportunity
to get familiar with Bulgarian Funeral Culture
during the conference as well as a technical visit.
Participants will have the opportunity to listen
to experts and discuss the future of funeral
services, and meet potential business partners
from all over the world. They will also take part in
a dazzling welcome cocktail party, and stunning
Gala Dinner.
I invite you all to read this edition of THANOS
magazine, whose theme is e-Commerce in the
funeral industry. I would like to thank all of the
companies which we feature in this issue for
accepting the invitation to share their insights.
In this issue we also invite all FIAT-IFTA members to
join the supervised practical embalming workshop
in Barcelona organized by SORTEM in cooperation
with FIAT-IFTA. Members of the organization will
have a special discount! The FIAT-IFTA Board of
Directors hopes that this training course will be the
beginning of a Global Education Program that will
continue in the future and will be the first of other
initiatives by its members with the aim to promote
the development of the industry worldwide.
I look forward to seeing you all in Varna or at one
of the funeral events taking place around the
world.
Marek Cichewicz
FIAT-IFTA President
Marek Cichewicz
FIAT-IFTA President
THANOS MAGAZINE
THANOS magazine, the official magazine of FIAT-IFTA
Editor-in-Chief: Katarzyna Supa, e-mail: fiatifta-magazine@thanos.org
Editorial Office: FIAT-IFTA – The World Organization of Funeral Operatives,
Apolloweg 325, 8239DC, Lelystad – NL
Design & DTP: PRZECINEK.studio
All materials are copyrighted. Reprinting and use of materials require
permission from the FIAT-IFTA Office. Editors reserve the right to shorten texts
and change the titles of submitted materials. FIAT-IFTA Office is not liable
for the content of advertisements and promotional materials.
Feel invited to create the Thanos Magazine together with us and advertise your products and services: fiatifta-magazine@thanos.org
Photo by Sándor Kerekes for OTEI
PRESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE
THANOS MAGAZINE | No. 102 – SUMMER 2023
he 52nd FIAT-IFTA I.C.D. (International Council
of Direction) Annual Meeting as well as the
meeting of the Union of the Funeral Companies in
Bulgaria on the occasion of their 30th anniversary
will take place in the beautiful and sunny city of
Varna (Bulgaria) on June 7-9, 2023.
The meeting will be a great opportunity for FIAT-IFTA
and UFCB members to gather together and
exchange knowledge and experience. The FIAT-IFTA
meeting will focus on the latest developments of
the organization, funeral heritage as well as the
education project. In addition to the UFCB and
FIAT-IFTA meetings, a conference will be held for
the exchange of knowledge where we can learn
from industry experts. The conference will explore
new leads within the funeral Industry to help our
businesses and ultimately the families we serve.
HOSTED BY
SPONSORS
We are all looking forward to seeing you
in the beautiful city of Varna soon!
We look forward to seeing you soon in the
beautiful city of Varna!
FIAT-IFTA
ANNUAL
MEETING
2023
JUNE 7-9, 2023
VARNA, BULGARIA
UFCB – The Union
of the Funeral
Companies in
Bulgaria
LIK-M OOD
4
No. 102 – SUMMER 2023 | THANOS MAGAZINE
LET’S MEET
AGENDA
Last updated 9.05.2023
All events are taking place in Conference Center
INTERNATIONAL HOTEL CASINO and TOWER
SUITES
Wednesday, June 7
9:30
Registration for the members of UFCB
10:00 – 12:00
General assembly of UFCB (reporting)
13:00 – 15:00
FIAT-IFTA I.C.D. board meeting (closed meeting)
15:30 – 17:00
FIAT-IFTA Heritage Committee meeting
19:30 – 22:00
Welcome cocktail party
Thursday, June 8
9:00
Registration of all delegates
9:30 – 12:30
FIAT-IFTA I.C.D. meeting (including coffee break)
13:00 – 14:00
Lunch
14:00 – 17:30 CONFERENCE
20:00 – 00:00
Gala Dinner – FIAT-IFTA and UFCB members
Friday, June 9
9:00 – 15:00
Technical visits and Varna City tour
Landmarks
Crematorium
Orthodox cathedral
Museum of Archaeology
Lunch
19:30
Dinner – evening of the Bulgarian grill and rakia
CONFERENCE PROGRAM
Thursday, June 8
14:00 – 14:05
Opening of the conference
by First Vice-President
– Mr William Wappner
14:05 – 14:20
Funeral goes Digital
– Miglena Angelova – Bulgaria
14:20 – 14:40
Funeral Heritage – Bulgarian Funeral
Customs – Atanas Argirov – Bulgaria
14:40 – 15:00
Sacral architecture in Bulgarian
culture – Maria Krazlateva – Bulgaria
15:00 – 15:35
Green Farewell: Embracing
Sustainable Practices in the Funeral
Industry and Thanatopraxis
– Nuria Capdevilla – Spain
15:35 Coffee break
15:50 – 16:10
Sustainability and the use of
Formaldehyde – Craig L Caldwell
– United Kingdom
16:10 – 17:20
Panel Discussion
– Thanatopraxis and Sustainability
Moderator:
Gus Nichols – Irish Association – Ireland
Panelists:
Craig L Caldwell – Mazwell Group – UK
Mylena Cooper – AFAI – Brazil
Antton Loinaz – Sortem – Spain
Dominic Vernhes – Anubis – France
17:20
Closure of Conference by President
Mr. Marek Cichewicz
THANOS MAGAZINE | No. 102 – SUMMER 2023
LET’S MEET
Mr Hiroshi Kitajima’s
celebration of receiving
The Order of the Rising Sun,
Gold and Silver Rays
Mr Hiroshi Kitajima, Former President and
currently Immediate Past President of FIAT-IFTA
was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold
and Silver Rays in the fall of 2022.Ceremony
was held November 11, 2022, at the Ministry of
Economy, Trade and Industry.
In March 2023 Mr Kitajima’s celebration for
receiving the Order of the Rising Son, Gold and
Silver Rays was held at his hometown, Sapporo,
Hokkaido at the Sapporo Park Hotel, in Japan.
This was a great opportunity to recognise and
celebrate Mr Kitajima’s achievements.
As Chairman of the Block Representative
Directors Conference, former President Kitajima
worked to promote disaster relief agreements
between the government, federations, and
affiliated cooperatives in order to speed up
support activities in the event of a large-scale
disaster. In addition, he was appointed President
of the FIAT-IFTA in 2018, and has received this
award for his longstanding efforts to develop
the funeral service industry in Japan and abroad
and to expand and strengthen its organization,
including establishing the Japanese funeral
service industry’s position in the world through
numerous exchanges with countries around the
world.
The Order of the Rising Sun (旭日章, Kyokujitsu-
shō) is a Japanese order, established in 1875
by Emperor Meiji. The badge features rays of
sunlight from the rising sun. The design of the
Rising Sun symbolizes energy as powerful as the
rising sun in parallel with the “rising sun” concept
of Japan (“Land of the Rising Sun”). The Order of
the Rising Sun is awarded to people who have
rendered distinguished service to the state in
various fields except military service. While it is
the third highest order bestowed by the Japanese
government, it is however generally the highest
ordinarily conferred order. The awarding of the
Order is administered by the Decoration Bureau
of the Cabinet Office headed by the Japanese
Prime Minister. It is awarded in the name of the
Emperor.
Photo: All Japan Funeral Directors Co-operation
6
No. 102 – SUMMER 2023 | THANOS MAGAZINE
MEMBERS’ NEWS
Become an author of “Funeral Heritage Report”
Preserve intangible funeral heritage in
your Country for future generations.
When creating a modern funeral industry, we
should not forget its roots – the traditions and
customs from which our modern funeral practices
originate. Caring for the preservation for future
generations of the intangible cultural heritage
associated with the funeral, burial, cremation and
memorialization of the deceased is one of the
tasks set by FIAT-IFTA – The World Organization
of Funeral Operatives. Every four years, the
organization prepares a special publication on
intangible funeral heritage – “Funeral Heritage
Report” and cordially invites everyone to contribute
to the upcoming edition. The next one will be
published in 2024.
Today FIAT-IFTA is the only such organization in
the world, the only NGO accredited with the United
Nations ECOSOC and UNESCO representing the
funeral branch in social and economic issues and
in the field of funeral heritage. The organization
stands for the preservation of the memory of
traditional funeral customs, which are crucial in
maintaining the identity of any nation, region,
ethnic or social group. Similar to traditions and
customs in other areas of our lives, they are the
foundation of modern culture and history, serve to
strengthen social ties, and allow us to understand
who we are, where we came from and what our
ancestors were like.
In
2008,
the
FIAT-IFTA
Heritage
Steering
Committee was established, and we gained
UNESCO Consultative Status for Intangible Cultural
Heritage in 2014. Today the Heritage Committee
devotes special attention to traditions, cultural
phenomena and artifacts related to death, dying,
funerals and mourning at national, regional and
local levels around the world that are worth saving
from oblivion.
The “Funeral Heritage Report,” is a unique
publication presenting examples of intangible
funeral culture from around the world. It
describes customs, rituals, rites, beliefs, stories,
music, art, the language used to describe
the death phenomenon, and the products of
crafts. The first publication was in 2010. So far,
5 editions of the report have been published.
The next one is currently under development
and will be made available to readers in 2024.
The publication will be distributed worldwide in
THANOS MAGAZINE | No. 102 – SUMMER 2023
MEMBERS’ NEWS
Let’s welcome new members of FIAT-IFTA
We are happy to welcome 10 new members of our
organization! Since February 2023 we have been
joined by 1 National Member, 5 Active Members
and 4 Associate Members. Please welcome:
National Members:
• GPT Durasek d.o.o. from Croatia
Active Members:
• Crossing World Group from Spain
• Grammenos International Repatriation Services
from Greece
• International Emergency Assistance from United
States
• MEC Servicios Funerarios from Spain
• Pohřební ústav Pegas CZ, s.r.o. from Czech Republic
Associate Members:
• Hřbitovy a pohřební služby hl. m. Prahy from
Czech Republic
• Lira Pogrenbi Centar from Croatia
• Previsiones Pedregales Del Sur from Mexico
• Schutz Bestatungen from Germany
If you wish to expand your network to enhance
the global exposure of your services, apply for
FIAT-IFTA Membership by sending us an e-mail
at info@thanos.org
Join the supervised practical
embalming workshop in
Barcelona – 10-13 October 2023
A unique opportunity for morticians to take
part in a training course organized by SORTEM
in cooperation with FIAT-IFTA. Members of the
organization will have a special discount!
Only 6 places are available! First come, first served!
The FIAT-IFTA Board of Directors hopes that this
training course will be the beginning of a Global
Education Program that will continue in the future
and foster the improvement of skills in various
areas of work of funeral professionals around the
world. The FIAT-IFTA Board hopes that this will be
the first of other initiatives by its members with the
aim to promote the development of the industry
worldwide.
Would you like to know why it is worth taking part
in mortuary workshops in Barcelona, when, where,
how and what is included? Please read more on
pages 22-23 in this issue of THANOS magazine.
English, Chinese, Spanish and French. FIAT-IFTA
members and all those who have knowledge
of intangible funeral heritage and would like
to present it in the pages of an international
publication, and thus preserve them for
future generations, are invited to contribute
to the report.
Some examples of the rich content gathered over
the years for the report are: funeral rituals from
Madagascar, Australia, Japan, various regions
of China, funeral customs of the Toraja people
of Indonesia, the ritual of dancing with masks
practiced at funerals in the African Republic of
Mali, funeral practices from Ethiopia, the custom
of flying kites to commemorate the dead on
All Saints’ Day in Guatemala, the tradition of
funeral processions in the United Kingdom, the
traditions associated with tomb sculpture in
Montreal, as well as carved memorial columns
serving as tombstones in ancient cemeteries in
Hungary, jade death masks practiced in Mexico,
traditional hearses in Japanese culture or the
history of ceramic flowers in France. The authors
also wrote about the role of music in funeral
ceremonies in the U.S. and Poland, the Krakow
Rękawka tradition and the Polish funeral speech
tradition.
If you have knowledge about intangible
funerary heritage and would like to share it
on the unique publication – “Funeral Heritage
Report”, please email info@thanos.org or
fiatifta-magazine@thanos.org
8
No. 102 – SUMMER 2023 | THANOS MAGAZINE
MEMBERS’ NEWS
E-COMMERCE
IN THE FUNERAL INDUSTRY
IS SIMPLER THAN YOU THINK
AND CAN BRING MORE BENEFITS
THAN YOU EXPECT
By Katarzyna Supa, funeral innovation researcher,
editor-in-chief THANOS magazine
10
No. 102 – SUMMER 2023 | THANOS MAGAZINE
MAIN TOPIC
e now live in a world where
e-Commerce has left its mark
on every possible industry, mainly
thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sale of products and services online is
now an everyday reality for individual
customers,
and
increasingly
for
business customers, including those
in the funeral industry. The "digital
transition" is already a reality in the
funeral sector. However, there is still
some resistance to digitalization by
funeral homes, for various reasons.
One is that it is a traditional and
reliable sector, and also because it is
a business with old habits and is largely
family-owned. Entrepreneurs who want
to show openness to customers' needs
should bet on innovative e-Commerce
solutions and technologies today. Both
funeral homes and families can benefit
from having e-Commerce available.
There are 3 main factors driving the e-Commerce
adoption in the funeral industry:
• rising costs and lack of transparency – people
now prefer planning funerals in front of the
computer and they want to know about the
service as much as possible, they want to find
and compare products/ services online and
they want to make decisions without rushing.
• increasing
popularity
of
e-Commerce
in
daily life – according to www.statista.com
in 2021, retail e-Commerce sales amounted
to approximately 5.2 trillion U.S. dollars
worldwide. The main reason for the growth is
the generational shift and change in the way
of communication (the point of contact with
the customer more and more often begins on
the Internet) and the increasing technological
sophistication of the devices that serve this
communication.
• meeting consumer preferences – we live in
a time when a large number of individuals stay
away from their families, for work and other
reasons. Their commitments and schedule
prevent them from being present in person to
We’re still far away from
having an app where
someone can make a funeral
arrangement, but consumer
needs are definitely changing.
Many families still feel
most comfortable going to
funeral homes, as opposed to
a faceless service.
In Finland, online funeral services are still relatively
uncommon, but are growing rapidly. Customers
are beginning to demand online services in the
funeral industry, such as eHautaus.fi, which offers
the ability to arrange a funeral online.
eHautaus.fi is a virtual funeral service that allows
customers to arrange all necessary funeral services
and bookings remotely from their homes. Our
customers are typically over 45 years old, living
in large cities or rural areas across Finland, and
looking for a convenient way to arrange funeral
services from a distance. Many of them are
arranging a funeral for the first time and may be
unfamiliar with traditional funeral arrangements.
They are also accustomed to managing all
aspects of their lives online and appreciate
the
convenience
that
eHautaus.fi
provides.
The advantages of online commerce include
scalability and geographic expansion, which
attracts larger players to replace smaller ones.
Finland’s funeral industry is fragmented into
hundreds of small operators, but the number
of players is likely to decrease in the future. The
biggest challenge of online commerce is the lack
of familiarity and locality, but changing norms are
reducing this issue.
Ville Sutinen
CEO, Hautauspalvelu eHautaus Oy,
eHautaus.fi , Finland
THANOS MAGAZINE | No. 102 – SUMMER 2023
11
MAIN TOPIC
grieve. Thanks to e-Commerce solutions they
can identify many items and services, source
it individually, and then put all of that together
and make decisions in their own time. Online
funeral service software with e-Commerce
allows people to plan and pay for arrangements
from wherever they live.
Regardless of the industry, the reasons for online
shopping, whether by individuals (relatives of the
deceased ordering funeral services) or companies
(funeral
homes
ordering
funeral
products)
converge on basic aspects, such as: convenience,
time savings, greater choice and lower prices or
attractive bonuses. Internet users also very often
declare their willingness to compare prices online,
and among the advantages of e-Commerce they
also indicate the possibility of buying at any time
or not needing to be physically present at the
funeral company or product supplier.
e-Commerce as a tool dedicated
to family and friends
Today's funeral home clients look for information
primarily on the Internet, first and foremost on
search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo etc.
88% of consumers state that they research the
product or service online first before making any
purchase. When they get to the funeral home's
website, they are interested in very specific
information:
It is already possible to buy a funeral online in
honor of a family member and be able to evaluate
and comment on the service provided. The
funeralbooking.pt is operating in Portugal, but with
interest in expanding to other markets. From any
device, fixed or mobile, in funeralbooking.pt, you
can simulate the price of a funeral and get prices
of various funeral homes. The online purchase of
a funeral in no way interferes with the tradition
and the way a funeral is celebrated. The only
difference is in the purchase channel (online instead
of physical shop and in person). Our solution is
completely free of influence and strategy, supporting
more thoughtful purchase by the consumer. The
advantages for professionals are numerous, the
opening of a new sales channel, greater visibility,
geographical growth, new opportunities, marketing
and advertising. The latest major innovation is
the new method of payment in addition to those
already implemented, which allows families to
pay a funeral online in installments and funeral
homes receive immediately 100% of the value of
the funeral. According the National Association of
Funeral Companies (ANEL), the funeralbooking.
pt, “comes to ensure greater transparency to the
sector and make known in a clear, direct way the
prices charged by different companies.” Our digital
ecosystem provides convenience, privacy and
availability 24 hours a day, making it a necessary
and essential tool available to all at a time that is
so difficult. There are also other areas implemented,
such as bereavement support by professionals
specializing in bereavement psychology. Another
area
is
a professional
digital
showroom
of
manufacturers, suppliers and distributors, divided
by business areas. This area is reserved for funeral
directors and suppliers, without any possibility of
access by consumers.
Paulo Seco
Founder & CEO, funeralbooking.pt , Portugal
When it comes to
e-Commerce solutions,
funeral directors should
step in the client's shoes
and be aware that most of
their clients are arranging
a funeral for the first time
in their life, so they really
need guidance through the
process. It's not just about
persuading the customer to
buy a particular product,
but about guiding them
through a number of
questions to find out what
they are looking for.
12
No. 102 – SUMMER 2023 | THANOS MAGAZINE
MAIN TOPIC
• offer – what the funeral home's capabilities are
and what the costs of the various services will
be for the ceremony;
• guide – how to deal with the situation of loss
(formalities, organizational steps, coping with
grief);
• opinions of other customers;
• memorials – obituaries (information on when
farewells to loved ones are held) and ways
to commemorate them (i.e. virtual books of
condolence).
As funeral home clients are already buying
everyday products and looking for information
on the Internet, it is worth taking advantage of
this fact, such as launching a small online store
on the funeral home's website. Allowing for the
possibility to sell an urn or a casket, funeral
services live streaming, flowers or some gifts to
comfort grieving families. It makes it easy for out-
of-town families to send their condolences and
gifts showing support i.e. food products (sweets,
fruits, aromatic and relaxing teas), cosmetics,
oils that calm the senses, books.
However,
many
experts
indicate
that
e-Commerce in funeral homes means something
E-commerce in Poland still has great potential
for growth, but economic factors were not the
only reason why we created the electronic funeral
notification eKlepsydra (under this name it is
known in Poland, but in foreign markets – in Spain
and Germany – it is known as Funeral Card and
in Hungary under the name e-Gyászjelentés).
First and foremost, we wanted to enable families
to efficiently notify their loved ones of death
and funeral ceremonies. It was obvious for us to
extend this basic function with further features
such as navigation to the ceremony location,
offering condolences and sharing memories as
well as launching an online store for ordering
flowers with delivery to the ceremony. Of course,
the store can include any products, it all depends
on the approach of the cooperating funeral
company. Since the beginning of the notification’s
operation, which is 4 years now, flowers ordered
in the eKlepsydra notification have been delivered
to more than 2,000 ceremonies in Poland. This
feature has worked perfectly many times for those
families who could not make their way to the
ceremony due to long distances. This was especially
evident during the pandemic. During the year, the
notification itself is used by an average of 10,000
people a year in Poland, more than 2,000 in Spain
and 1,500 in Hungary.
Paweł Pakuła
CEO, eKlepsydra (Funeral Card), eklepsydra.pl ,
Poland
In my opinion, e-Commerce has many advantages,
some of which are: convenience, unlimited time and
easy access to products. From anywhere, as soon as
one has access to the Internet, funeral directors can
quickly buy the missing funeral items. Shipments
are made overnight. Which is very convenient.
Our online shop is used by both small and large
funeral directors, from Poland and abroad.
We are constantly updating the product range in
our shop, introducing new products, and soon...
we will be launching a new version of our website:
www.carmen.lublin.pl, along with a new online
shop. We know how much customers like this form
of shopping, so we are investing in its development.
Izabela Zarzyka
CARMEN Sales and Customer Service Manager,
www.carmen.lublin.pl , Poland
THANOS MAGAZINE | No. 102 – SUMMER 2023
13
MAIN TOPIC
more than adding the form to the website
allowing families to order an urn or a casket. In
their opinions, understanding the real problems
consumers are faced with, questions they are
going to have when arranging funerals, is the key
to successful implementation of e-Commerce
solutions today. That means presenting the
offer more transparently, in a way that allows
families to plan the whole ceremony peacefully
in their homes, giving them a chance to get all
information online before contacting the funeral
director directly.
Of course e-Commerce is not very popular yet. It is
a desired solution for those people who like to do
things on their own, who like to feel more in control,
as they live online and organize a lot of everyday
events online. Instead of visiting the funeral home
to see what is offered, they prefer to do this online.
It doesn't mean that they don't want to involve
the funeral director, but means that they want to
be well educated before making any decision. The
process as a whole becomes more efficient.
For funeral businesses, having online solutions like
e-Commerce means that the company is up-to-
date and meets the expectations of the consumer,
even if they are not using this solution very often
yet. By implementing it, funeral companies have
the opportunity to shape the customer experience
with this communication channel (not many people
have had the opportunity to arrange a funeral
online), build trust and its position as an innovative
and responsive funeral home. Having e-Commerce
available on your website means that they can truly
serve families 24/7. It means for them spending less
time worrying about having staff work as salespeople
and simplifying the whole process of sales.
Online shopping in the funeral industry...
no one will shut the door in front of your
face :) As a manufacturer and distributor of
funeral accessories, Carmen has relied on
online sales for many years. We have been
successfully
running
an online
shop
for
over 6 years. In addition to stationary and
representative-based
sales,
e-Commerce
is
another distribution channel for our products.
Carmen exclusively supplies companies in the
funeral industry. With us, funeral firms, coffin
manufacturers, stonemasons or florists can
quickly and easily familiarize themselves with
the offer, select the products they are interested
in and place an order to the address indicated.
Approximately 90% of shipments are completed
within 1 day. When ordering a fixed minimum
amount, transport is free of charge.
Aneta Zdyb & Wojtek Kitajewski
owners of CARMEN company,
www.carmen.lublin.pl , Poland
Currently in Spain, companies that provide funeral
services with their own means, have web pages in
which most of their content is informative about
locations of their centers, services, rates, mourning
assistance, post-mortem procedures, pre-need,
information of the deceased who are in their
facilities, with the possibility of sending notes of
condolence or acquiring flowers to send them to
the wake. Many of them also offer the possibility
of requesting quotes. In the last two or three years,
websites have appeared that are intermediaries,
some of them with price comparators or direct
providers with another brand, offering the
contracting of services online.
Josep Ventura
representative of PANASEF for the FIAT-IFTA
14
No. 102 – SUMMER 2023 | THANOS MAGAZINE
MAIN TOPIC
Offering online assistance to the families who
visit funeral home websites is an opportunity to
build loyalty and referrals. An online sympathy
store provides grievers the chance to shop
at their own convenience, saving them time
and potentially easing their stress. Selling
sympathy gifts direct from your website is
also a helpful service for out-of-town friends
and family members. Those who are unable
to attend a funeral are likely to visit a website
to read about the services of a loved one.
Providing them the opportunity to express their
condolences with sympathy gifts is another
way to extend the funeral firm’s reach to
the families. An interesting example of such
an offer is legacy.com . There are three basic
functions on this platform – generation of
What technical aspects to pay attention to when setting up an online store?
• choose an easy domain name and fast hosting
(server); Don’t be fooled into partnering with
an e-Commerce provider that will steal your
valuable website traffic. If your website visitors
are taken to a third-party site, you’re not only
losing web traffic, but you’re also disrupting
your visitor’s online experience;
• use the services of a proven IT company, which,
in addition to building the store, provides free
technical assistance during its operation;
• make sure you have a user-friendly admin
panel to manage your online store by yourself
– after all, it’s not just the ordering process that
should be a pleasant experience, but also your
work on the store’s background;
• take care of a user-friendly experience when
navigating the store and searching for products;
• you shouldn’t present too many products as
the client loses the possibility to choose from
too many options / it becomes too complicated
and non-effective in making decisions to
move forward. You should present about 9-20
products (top sellers of different kinds);
• be sure to offer detailed descriptions and
provide high-quality images;
• when shopping online, your website visitors
expect to be able to contact a customer service
representative by phone, chat, or email any time
they have a question or concern —24/7/365.
Make sure your customer service is responsive,
patient and polite when dealing with issues.
They should also be knowledgeable on the
products you offer on your online store;
• decide what forms of payment will be available
in your store (payment by credit cards, bank
transfer, through services such as PayPal,
others);
• choose whether would you like customer
registration to be combined with the creation
of a store user profile, where order history will
be stored;
• collect and publish customer reviews and
testimonials with good experiences with your
products or services, as they provide social
proof for new customers. Negative feedback
is also important because it will help you to
improve the store;
• collect and analyze online statistics about the
store – thanks to this data you can, for example,
plan supplies, as well as monitor customer
behavior;
• ensure responsiveness (mobile friendly) – the
appearance and layout of the store should
automatically adapt to the device on which it is
displayed, such as browsers, smartphones and
tablets;
• take care of your online store’s SEO – both
organic and paid;
• take care about speed, cost and various forms
of delivery;
• specify the return policy;
• your customers want to know your store is safe
and secure, so display trust certificates, security
badges and safety seals on the checkout pages;
• decide whether you will introduce loyalty
programs, discount coupons;
• consider communicating through newsletters
to maintain customer relationships.
e-Commerce, for the moment,
will not replace in-person
contact with funeral directors.
It is just another option to
contact, guide and educate
family members and offer
them a service. The main goal
is to simplify the whole process
of funeral arrangement.
THANOS MAGAZINE | No. 102 – SUMMER 2023
15
MAIN TOPIC
obituary content, ordering online obituary with
the possibility of publication on the website and
local newspapers, the ability to plan a funeral
and find out its price (pricing is made available
only after completing a detailed questionnaire).
e-Commerce as a B2B tool
Funeral companies can also buy funeral products,
accessories, etc. online. This is often more
convenient and more cost-effective for them.
B2B e-Commerce systems allow for efficient
data flow between: manufacturer – distributor,
distributor – funeral home, manufacturer
– funeral
home,
supplier
–
manufacturer.
Thanks to these tools, a manufacturer of funeral
accessories and products can reduce costs
(improve its warehousing and logistics policy)
and increase sales (through more efficient
acquisition of new orders resulting from the
automation of quoting).
Online purchasing additionally means the
ability to aggregate large amounts of data about
customers, suppliers, the market, and a chance
to distance the competition. Digital networking
helps gain competitive advantages in the areas
of cost and quality and, more importantly, speed
and flexibility of response to market changes.
What can you benefit from by launching
an online store?
• increase your business reach from regional to
countrywide or even international;
• improving the availability of your company’s
offerings 24 hours a day;
• automation
of
business
processes
and
ordering the service – reduces the number of
visits families must make to the funeral home
or need to make phone or e-mail;
• with little or no costs to implement, you could
be earning new revenue in a matter of days.
The introduction of sales on your funeral
home website could bring you up to a 25%
commission on each sale, without pulling focus
away from your core business of providing
funeral services to the families you serve;
• drive more traffic to your website and increase
the amount of time visitors spend viewing your
web pages. That will improve how well your
site ranks in a Google search. The better the
ranking, the more visibility your funeral home
website will have to potential client families
browsing for funeral services – ultimately
bringing in more traffic.
The eplastmet.pl shop was established at the
beginning of 2017 and gradually increases what
is on offer with new products year after year.
Customers operating in the funeral industry can
comprehensively supply their company. It is not
without reason that the store was opened in
2017 because preparations for the Necroexpo
Fair in Kielce were already underway. This
event certainly contributed to the success of
our store, allowing us to reach most of our
customers with this information. At the turn of
those years, the store only underwent minor
aesthetic improvements. From the beginning, it
was created the way we wanted it to be intuitive
and pleasing to the eye of our customers.
The
PLASTMET
company
cooperates
only
with business clients operating in the funeral
industry. A private person is not able to make
purchases in our online store. Each new user
is personally verified by me. Orders placed by
our shop are sent to several countries in the
European Union.
The biggest advantage of online shopping is
the possibility of shopping at any time of the
day or night, 24 hours a day. The eplastmet.pl
website is responsive, so you can freely make
purchases not only on a computer, but also
on a smartphone or tablet. I try to keep our
purchasing platform updated with the new
products that we have on offer. This way the
customer has the opportunity to get acquainted
with our new products without any delay.
Klaudia Palińska
PLASTMET, Foreign customer service and
marketing specialist, eplastmet.pl , Poland
16
No. 102 – SUMMER 2023 | THANOS MAGAZINE
MAIN TOPIC
INFO@CROSSINGWORLDGROUP.COM
+34 96 135 34 38 l
WWW.CROSSINGWORLDGROUP.COM
WORLDWIDE FUNERAL ASSISTANCE
EXPERT TEAM 24/7
LEADING YOU
in funeral
REPATRIATION
SERVICES
in more than
180 COUNTRIES
Abbreviation of the article from NFDA’s Memorial Business Journal based on
Zack Garbow’s presentation at NFDA’s convention, USA
ost
people
would
agree
that
technology is necessary to enhance
a business. Some embrace the tech
wholeheartedly, but there are those as
well who see technology as a necessary
evil. The thing about technology, too, is
there’s a whole lot of it. So how do you
decide what you need?
At the NFDA International Convention & Expo
last year, Zack Garbow, co-founder of Funeral
Innovations, presented a seminar to help sort all
that out for attendees. The presentation looked
at an assortment of technology to discuss and
evaluate what funeral directors should be doing
for their business and what they should be
looking to adopt. One of them is e-Commerce.
[...]
Over the last few years, the technology adopted
in the funeral industry has skyrocketed. “We’re
in this always online world now, especially
because of the pandemic that just accelerated
everything,” said Garbow. “People who were
hesitant to accept and adopt technology have
really been doing so because they’ve been
forced to do so.” Things like video chat services,
telehealth and online grocery ordering, he said,
have existed for a long time, but it’s only recently
that people have felt comfortable trying some of
the tech.
And because the public has become more
comfortable, software and technology have
become key to every profession. The number of
tech solutions in the marketplace can certainly be
overwhelming. So how should you as a business
professional evaluate the solutions your firm
should be using?
Good and bad technology
Good technology offers some very positive
benefits, and efficiency is a big one. “Technology
should make you more efficient. It should
create new capabilities and offerings you can
provide to families to make the funeral service
more special,” Garbow said. “It should open up
new revenue and simplify and automate your
business.”
While there are many benefits to good technology,
Garbow warned, there is also bad technology. “You
want to make sure that technology is working for
you and you’re not working for it,” he said. Everyone,
at one time or another, has been in a situation in
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No. 102 – SUMMER 2023 | THANOS MAGAZINE
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which they feel like they spend more time on the
tech then they’re benefiting from it. Technology
should make your life better, demonstrate clear
benefits and be easy to implement and maintain.
[...] “Good technology should make you feel smart,
empowered, more efficient.” [...]
“Required”
Garbow began his discussion with websites. What
is required on any website is a good content-
management system, which is the platform
that holds the technology behind the website.
The website is the result of that tech.
When
you’re
talking
about
the
content-
management system for a website, the first thing
is that it must be easy to update. [...] “If you’re not
doing it yourself, the way to tell it’s easy is if your
provider does the updates quickly. We’re moving
fast now in this profession and you’ve got to have
your website move fast and adapt along with you,”
stated Garbow.
Next, a website must be customizable. Can you
make changes and have it reflect your brand
identity? Asked Garbow: “Does it really feel like it’s
projecting who you are as a firm?”
A content-management system also needs to
be flexible. By that, Garbow means having the
ability to add new content to the site, such as
new landing pages with resources for families,
a blog, a testimonials page and another for
reviews. [...] Lastly, Garbow pointed to search
engine optimization (SEO), which can get you listed
properly in Google results so that you can capture
all the organic search traffic.
“Wired”
Once you’ve got a good platform in place, Garbow
said, switch from “required” to “wired” as it’s time
to focus on things like SEO so that when someone
searches for something related to funeral homes
or obituaries or planning ahead, you show up. And
you show up near the top, where almost all the
clicks occur, not buried on the third page of results
where no one’s ever going to find you.
As Garbow explained, SEO is a bit of a tricky area.
“This is a part of the profession where some would
say ‘predatory selling’ occurs,” he said. “SEO is
a little bit mysterious and magical – you don’t
necessarily see what’s going into it. It might take
a while for the results to show up.”
Some firms that claim to be SEO specialists will
come in and say, “Hey, here are the 1,500 things I’m
going to do for you to help you rank better.” Most
people, thinking it all sounds a bit complicated,
would defer to the SEO specialist. “Not good, stay
away from those people,” Garbow warned. Other
SEO people may say they’ll get you to number one
for all key search phrases. “They can’t promise
you that,” Garbow said. “Only Google knows what
Google’s algorithm is and nobody within Google
actually knows what the algorithm is. They can’t
possibly promise particular results.”
When it comes to SEO, Garbow said, consider the
basics, focusing on the few things that actually
matter: original content, engagement, site
structure, page speed and Google My Business.
Most, if not all, of the results will come from these
areas, he said. [...] There are a few things funeral
directors might want to consider when it comes
to site structure. “This is where a lot of that SEO
benefit comes from,” said Garbow. Make sure
obituaries, which for much of a funeral home’s
search traffic, are on your domain so visitors
don’t leave your site to find the obituaries. If they
do, you’re not getting any of the SEO benefits.
Garbow also suggested making sure that the
deceased’s name is in the URL for the obituary,
which will make sure it ranks higher and that you
get that SEO benefit. [...] A slow website is a deal
breaker for many consumers. Nobody wants to
search for something, click on it and then have to
wait too long to actually see what the site is. [...]
Continuing the discussion on Google, Garbow
talked
about
My
Business
[...],
integrated digital marketing by having forms
on your website that feed back to your customer
relationship manager (CRM) [...] and integrated
landing pages so that when somebody is
interested in a resource, they can get it or
sign up for it. Garbow also advised retargeting
Technology should make you
more efficient. It should create
new capabilities and offerings
you can provide to families to
make the funeral service more
special. It should open up
new revenue and simplify and
automate your business.
THANOS MAGAZINE | No. 102 – SUMMER 2023
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visitors. “You can get what’s called a cookie
from Facebook and put it on your website,” he
explained. “It allows Facebook to figure out who
is visiting your site. When you create an audience
of people who have been to your website, you
can run Facebook ads back to them since they
will be more likely to respond because they
know who you are. By adding that retargeting
into your website you’re able to get much more
conversion rate from your Facebook ads. [...]
e-Commerce
Turning to e-Commerce, Garbow used the Wired
magazine model i.e., what’s required, what’s
wired, and what’s inspired. What’s required?
Flowers. Offer those sympathy items on your
website. Before funeral homes offered flowers
on their websites, people would visit a website for
an obituary to find out the service information.
Now, these people wanted to show support for the
family but, at the time, most websites were basically
just static billboards, so they had to go to Google to
find a florist in a town they might not know. “That’s
not providing them a good experience,” Garbow
said. “Then e-Commerce and flower stores came
around and made it so much easier. People can
come to their obituary and, to show support, they
can easily purchase flowers and have them sent to
the service. That provides a level of convenience
that people now expect on every website.”
“To me, this isn’t just about generating revenue
for your funeral home – your website is providing
people what they want in that time of need,”
he added. “If they want to purchase flowers
and show support, which a lot of them do, you
should make that easy for them because that’s
what they expect.” Garbow said that when you
make buying flowers that easy, you get about
five times as many orders.
How do you take the next step with your
e-Commerce? Garbow said he would consider
looking at online arranging. “This is when you
provide a visitor the ability to arrange a funeral
ahead of time or at-need,” he said. “Why would
you do this? Well, first of all, your website is
about providing people what they’re looking for.
If they’re looking for options, figuring out prices
and seeing what you provide and have to offer,
they’re going to expect that.”
“And if you don’t provide it because you don’t
want to get price shoppers, or you don’t want to
give away all that information before they come
talk to you, then they’re probably going to go
somewhere else,” Garbow said. [...]
When it comes to direct cremation, a family can
visit your website and you can just have them
fill out their information. Or, they can make their
selections, sign the forms that they need to sign,
and even pay for the whole cremation.
But what about a more full-service funeral on
your website? “I think a lot of you are probably
hesitant to do something like this,” Garbow said.
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“I would encourage you to reconsider because
there are ways you can find that balance by
providing them what they’re looking for, which is
more information about what you have to offer,
while still having them interact with you and
understand the full benefits of the funeral.”
“You can find that balance,” he continued. “You
don’t necessarily need to have full ordering
on your site, where they’ll pay for everything.
Maybe you just let them find some of the basic
offerings that they might want to choose.
Maybe you give them some of that information
and education about how they should be
thinking about the different options, or you
let them choose some of these options but
then come in to walk through them and to talk
through what they selected before making the
final selections. That’s just providing them that
greater level of service that they’re increasingly
going to expect.”
What Garbow is seeing is a lot of online providers
coming into funeral service markets, whether
they’re physically in your market or not, so you
need to protect against that.
So, how do you really level up and get far
ahead of what everyone else is doing? Garbow
suggests providing personalized products. “The
reason personalized products are so important
today is that surveys with families show that
the personalized products are the number one
thing they take away from that funeral service,”
he said. “It’s the number one thing that they
remember, and they judge your service based on
the personalized products.”
Of course there’s a lot of different personalized
products, such as jewelry and tribute books.
“I’m really passionate about personalization,”
Garbow said. “I think that the best technology
brings together the benefits of digital, but also
parts of the physical.”
Management Software
The main requirement for management software
is that it needs to be accessed anywhere, [...]
because we’re always on the move now. [...] It
just needs to be cloud based, so essentially it is
accessible from the internet. It must also have
a responsive design so it goes from a full screen
on a laptop yet still has a design and an interface
that works from your mobile device.
How do you take that next step and level up
a little bit? Today, funeral directors don’t talk just
about managing cases or managing finances –
what about business management? “That’s going
to save you a tremendous amount of time,”
Garbow said. “If your software can keep track
of who’s cutting the grass; which vehicles are
reserved for which services; can handle texts and
communications and responses to your families;
if it can handle scheduling and communicating
with your staff; if it can even integrate the
weather for the events, then this is where you
start saving hours per case by managing your
entire business using the software.”
How do you really go to the next level with your
management software? Through integrations.
Garbow’s suggestion is to have it do special
things. “It integrates with your website, your
personalized products, your print software or
e-aftercare,” he said. “A lot of families after the
service, they are kind of forgotten, for better
or for worse. You have to move on to the other
families to serve them.”
The problem is those post-service families still
have needs. So, what if you could stay in front of
them for months, or even up to a year afterward,
and provide them with that additional level of
service that they’re looking for? “You can do that
with aftercare and with e-aftercare. By making it
digital, you can do it automatically,” Garbow said.
“You can check in with them and provide them
information, such as death certificates and what
they should do with them. Maybe a couple days
later, you could give them some grief options and
then you follow up with some information about
benefits and financials and what they should be
thinking about.”
“This provides that next level of service and, by
using e-aftercare, you can make it automatic,” he
added. “You just put in their contact information,
set up that schedule of emails and text messages,
and what they should look like and when they
should go out, and it’s all handled automatically.
Families love and appreciate that you take that
next level of support.” The messages might
also include information about planning ahead.
Maybe a couple of months down the road after
the service – when the wound isn’t quite as fresh
but they are still thinking about some of the
challenges that resulted in all the decisions they
made – it might be a good time to say, “How can
I help you?” [...]
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