It’s no surprise to anyone that the eCommerce industry is ever-evolving, and brands and retailers need to continue adapting to new landscapes. Large department stores and marketplaces are eager to onboard new brands, and online retail brands continue exerting their influence in the industry.
Brands recognize the importance of adding retail connections to their business and are investing in retail partnerships more so than ever before. So what do these changes mean for the future of brands and retail marketing – and wholesale in general?
Let’s take a look at three ways retailer brands can adapt to compete in this changing retail environment:
- Diversify your mix of retail and business partners
With the decline of brick and mortar comes less floor space for retail brands. This means that brands need to think of new ways to maintain and grow their business and reach new customers – open up to selling on new channels and business models. Introducing your full product list and assortments with digital retailers is a great way to generate awareness for new consumers. In addition, partnering with boutiques is a fantastic way to build up a strong geo-specific internet presence.
- Leverage your existing accounts to sell wider and deeper
Even though physical stores are reducing their size, digital retailers are a key factor for brands’ growth. Utilize them to present your merchandise to sell deeper into their existing accounts. A good way to do this is by showcasing your products as “collections” rather than “units.” Wholesale was always a preferred method although today many brands are supplementing through drop ship. Drop shipping allows brands to broaden your product assortment and provides a more prominent presence of your brand on the retailer’s website.
- Create more incentives, tools, benefits, and data for your customers
Today’s shoppers are becoming increasingly accustomed to “having it all.” Providing the occasional incentive or discount doesn’t cut it anymore. Retailers and brands need to offer a complete experience that includes discounts, performance rewards, and benefits as well as providing better tools for discovering products, placing orders, real-time data, and sales trends.
Knowing your customer is crucial for maintaining loyalty and standing apart from the competition. And today, it’s even more important than ever to elevate the customer experience by leveraging data.
Are you ready to take the connectivity challenge?
If you’re on the fence about whether or not you’re already up to par with today’s retail standards, take a minute and ask yourself these questions:
- Are you already selling on multiple channels?
- Are your employees frustrated and having a difficult time successfully juggling all tasks?
- Are you unable to list your available inventory, styles, and products for drop ship and marketplaces because your Operation Managers are maxed-out and cannot expand or increase bandwidth as additional work will be required?
- Is your in-house team working on manual retail operations – to the point where they can no longer scale without hiring additional employees?
- Is your Operations team occupied with their DTC website and the wholesale side of the business?
- Were you forced to stop selling on drop ship and marketplaces because it was impossible to successfully manage all your processes?
- Are you used to connecting via EDI and do not have the configurations in place for API-based connections?
Build a successful network
If you answered yes to any of the questions above, you’re ready to implement drop ship and marketplace automation. Help empower your customer base to shop and interact with your brands across a growing range of digital channels. It’s time to implement a connectivity fabric at the heart of your business to ensure your future.
Cymbio can help facilitate new retail connections and rekindle and automate any existing or paused relationships – building up new ones by stepping in and managing your retail connections. Learn more about how Cymbio can take your brand to the next level through marketplace and drop ship automation.