Successfully navigating the current economic climate requires a brand to think about why a retailer would want to carry their products. The instinctual response is, naturally, that the products themselves are excellent and what store wouldn’t want to carry them? But, that’s really not enough. The reality is, your brand is a commodity. And retailers are not just buying your product, they're buying your brand as a whole.
And, if they’re buying your brand as a whole, then all parts have to be functioning properly for the fit to work. With brick and mortar retail growing, and wholesale e-commerce on the rise, being the best commodity for your retailers is the key to standing out amongst the competition.
Ease of Use
Products don’t magically show up at a store’s front door. With limited shelf space and budget, a retailer goes through a careful decision making process when looking to put a product on the shelf. If your reps are easy to reach, your marketing materials are easily available, you offer a simple ordering system, AND you have an outstanding product, then your brand is the commodity a retailer is looking to sell.
This is what will set you apart from the competition. This is what makes retailers want to partner with you. By focusing on making a great product along with making it easy for a retailer to get that product in their hands, you’re in a place that gives you the maximum opportunity for growth.
Be easy to work with and you’re supporting retailer growth which in turn grows your brand.
Reorders In Minutes
Once a retailer is selling your product and you’ve built that partnership, it’s even more important that the process remains smooth and efficient. And, after the initial order, it’s all about the reorder.
No one has time for anything anymore. Most days, it feels like we’re all running from one place to another. Imagine, for a moment, you’re a retailer in the back room of your shop. You’ve got 37 brands you buy from, and you’ve got just a few hours to get all your reorders in before the next season kicks off. You’re going to want the simplest reorder process possible.
Do you want to: Send an email with your order and hope someone gets back to you quickly? Call a rep on the phone and hope they answer? Flip through a paper catalog, make notes, and fax in your order? Answer: Ummm. No.
If a retailer can’t login to an online portal and submit a reorder within minutes, then there’s a high probability a retailer will look elsewhere for a similar, and often inferior, product. That’s bad for their business, and yours.
If your ordering system, catalogs, workbooks, and all of your marketing materials are built with a digital-first mindset, you’ll stay far ahead of the competition. You must design everything to take full advantage of the power of your B2B platform with fully shoppable experiences that are B2B-aware.
This keeps it all easy to use, makes reorders a snap, and, as you’ll see, reduces order lead time.
Lower Lead Times
Once your retailers have the power to order digitally through your brand, in a standardized experience across all your accounts, you can eliminate a lot of the steps that cause lead time to lag. This makes it far easier for you to process orders versus trying to coordinate orders coming in from multiple places in multiple formats.
Online order history makes it easy for one-click reorders or the ability to quickly clone an order, and make minor modifications. With real-time inventory and immediate confirmation on an order, a retailer knows exactly what they’re getting and when. This allows a retailer to place smarter and more accurate orders.
And, the faster you can get products from your warehouse to the retailer’s shelves, the sooner that retailer can sell those products, and be back for another reorder.
Sell Yourself, Sell More Products
With the economy in the state that it’s in, and the recent realization that not only is brick and mortar not going away, but it’s on the rise, brands need to optimize their selling process to make it easy for retailers to work with them.
It’s not just about great products. You have to think of your brand as a commodity. This will give you the edge you need to better serve your retailers and help them grow. And, that puts your brand in an incredible position to succeed.