Information Technology has been an enabler for wholesale businesses for decades, and most companies have successfully used Information Technology to help them grow their businesses and control costs. However, in recent years, there have been several key advancements in technology that are transformative for wholesalers. Significant areas include automation, robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML). As robotic technologies continue to evolve, use cases within the warehouse are being acted upon at a cost which is a fraction of what was once needed. This automation is leading to more efficient operations and a long-term reduction in the cost of operating a supply chain and warehouse.
AI and ML are now helping to support decision-making in many business areas, from dynamic pricing to forecasting and replenishment. These technologies can analyse vast volumes of data in a fraction of the time it used to take, and with fewer resources. They also learn and adapt recommendations as a result. This enables wholesalers to move more swiftly on opportunities and avoid costly mistakes.
Andy Pratt, Sales Manager at Business Computer Projects (BCP) Ltd comments: “Having a robust approach to Information Technology security is critical in the world today. Cyber attacks on businesses are on the rise, and in particular, ransomware attacks, where you are locked out of your Information Technology systems until a ‘ransom’ is paid, are crippling businesses.”
Several things can be done to minimise these risks and in particular: ensuring that you have up-to-date anti-virus software at all times and that your Information Technology team has all systems ‘patched’ with the latest operating system patches; safeguarding all core business applications by using and managing them as recommended by suppliers; and having a solid policy around how and if external companies have access to your internal Information Technology infrastructure.
Taking the above precautions won’t guarantee complete immunity from attacks, but it will often send bad actors looking for easier targets.
The pandemic led to a shift in more businesses needing to be online. As a result, many wholesalers had to act quickly to survive. This approach has worked, and online is here to stay. The key now is keeping the loyalty of customers.
Although a lot of time and effort is being spent on designing websites and creating glossy digital marketing campaigns, these do not necessarily drive loyalty; they help but are only part of the mix for a B2B business. “To have a truly successful online presence, wholesalers must deliver a digital platform that integrates seamlessly with the back-office systems. In addition, customers need to be able to interact in a way that offers the same level of service whatever channel they use, be it a sales rep in the field, telesales or online,” adds the spokesperson.
The more tightly integrated the platform, the easier it is for customers to do business with a wholesaler. Treating your customers as merely consumers will lead to a commoditisation of service and, as such, a race to the bottom in terms of price. A platform rich in functionality relevant to wholesale can make all the difference.
“The economy is in a precarious state at the moment, and I wouldn’t like to make any definite predictions. Inflation will, of course, drive up the headline sales figures, but the same also applies to input costs,” says the spokesperson.
“With everything that is happening on a global scale at present, it will be a bumpy ride over the next couple of years. However, wholesalers who can adapt and act with agility and flexibility will undoubtedly do well.”
Tanya Pepin, Managing Director at TWC comments: “TWC Group’s SmartView is a highly visual sales reporting platform that showcases growth opportunities fast. SmartView also allows suppliers to quickly and accurately understand how they are performing vs. the whole category and identify opportunities (and threats) to inform sales strategy and tactical activity, for the benefit of their brand and the operator. It also enables suppliers to identify where to invest based on what activity truly drives growth – which promotions work and why, what marketing activity to deploy based on the customer business types that are purchasing and what competitors are doing that needs countering.”
TWC also offers SmartView Retail which enables wholesalers with a retail estate and their suppliers to view wholesale shipments out to store as well as retail sales to consumer. Integrating wholesale shipments and retail sales data on one platform allows users to seamlessly track performance through the supply chain and enables the most progressive operators to educate their retailers on what is driving performance in their stores.
All TWC’s platforms are designed to be simple to use so that anyone can get to the key facts they need to do their job fast.
A further development is the imminent launch of SmartView Convenience – the most representative EPOS market read covering independent retail and wholesaler-supplied symbol stores in GB.
This will allow operators to benchmark their performance against an accurate and reflective view of the market. A sample of 6,500 stores have been cherry-picked and the sample is extrapolated using algorithms to represent total GB independent convenience. Users will be able to see which products are driving growth in the market, understand ‘top sellers’ and any gaps in their product range.
This new read will allow stakeholders to understand the true market performance of a channel that has – up until now – been notoriously hard to-measure accurately.
Dael Links, Head of Marketing for Snappy Shopper, comments: “The demand for home delivery and the desire to shop locally is greater than ever, but we believe the increasing number of anonymous dark stores is a threat to the local high street and convenience stores in particular.”
Snappy Shopper’s mission is to ensure that retailers are educated about the benefits of an online presence and how to grow their customer base by developing an omnichannel business, using its technology.
Home delivery platform, Snappy Shopper, has completed its five millionth order, following record breaking order numbers so far this year.
This is in stark contrast to the outlook for dark stores, as many rapid delivery platforms pivot their businesses away from this model following significant cash burn and stagnating sales, whilst others announce major global staff redundancies.
“We see consistent trends across the platform, so there is a recipe for success,” adds Links. “Firstly, a retailer’s menu and range is so important. We strongly advise a great product range and to minimise substitutions, but if you do come across the need to, always advise the customer before delivery. Making your menu attractive is a vital pillar. Another key area to success is making each delivery count; we encourage retailers to always deliver on time and to use that delivery to build rapport. Range and delivery are two operational points that we see successful retailers get right time and time again. From a marketing perspective it’s all about strong and powerful branding inside and outside the shop – you’ve got to be visual! In addition to that, we see the successful retailers working social media to their advantage – posting regular content that’s relevant to the local community.”
The platform affords retailers the opportunity to drive almost 50% additional revenue from implementing a home delivery service, in a way not possible through footfall. According to Snappy Shopper’s retailer network, around 80% of their customers who use the Snappy Shopper app were acquired through the platform and would never have visited their physical store.
There are four key components to maximising the success of your home delivery offering; product range, pricing, customer service and marketing.
Demand is growing for the home delivery on both sides of the marketplace, retailers who want to join and customers who want to order for delivery to their homes.
It is clear that this is that online grocery is here to stay. Recent research suggests that the market is still growing. There was 5% uplift in customers planning to shop more online this year, in comparison to 2021. Online grocery could make up 18 to 30 percent of the food-at-home market by 2030 with rapid delivery having the potential to reach 3 to 7 percent of the total food-at-home market.
Rob Mannion, b2b.store CEO and founder, comments: “The proliferation of digital solutions in the wholesale sector has been transformational, but there’s still more to do. Adopting technology has tightened up processes in almost every business, making for slicker and more cost-effective operations – meaning wholesalers can offer even more competitive prices to their customers.”
Technology is constantly evolving, though, and wholesalers can’t afford to rest on their laurels and rely on solutions they introduced several years ago, and they need to be aware of how they can continue to adapt and find new, more efficient ways of working.
“There are some wholesalers that are relatively advanced in their journey to providing a top-performing eCommerce solution, but there are also plenty who are still in their infancy,” adds Mannion. “There’s little doubt that wholesalers can’t simply rely on business through their bricks-and-mortar cash and carries anymore and there’s a whole world of potential in moving towards selling online too – it doesn’t have to be a case of either or.”
B2b.store works with wholesalers of all shapes and sizes to offer a white-label eCommerce platform, so is well-versed in this space. However, the company decoupled its modules last year in order to make it even easier to support the enhancement of wholesalers’ existing eCommerce solutions by seamlessly integrating into their current platforms.
“It’s important to always keep one eye on what’s happening in B2C eCommerce because it’s an indication of what may be coming down the line in B2B in the future,” says Mannion. “Almost everybody shops online as a consumer nowadays, so ensuring that B2B doesn’t lag behind is important as your customers will be familiar with advancements in the consumer space too.”
One of the big trends is segmentation. All of the biggest retailers have been targeting messages and promotions to relevant consumers for years and it’s increasingly important to do the same in B2B. B2b.store has developed a few solutions – adopting WhatsApp for Business, enhanced digital advertising, or split testing – to improve the customer experience and boost sales.
B2b.store decoupled its modules last year to allow wholesalers to cherry pick which options work best for them in order to provide a tailored solution. This means that instead of offering a full-service solution, the company now provides five distinct services: B2B WhatsApp, B2B Open Banking, B2B eCommerce, B2B Digital Advertising and B2B Credit Control.
B2B eCommerce is a high-performance ordering and marketing platform, while B2B WhatsApp is a solution adapted from WhatsApp Business API technology that directly communicates with customers to make ordering, sharing promotions and payment much easier.
B2B Digital Advertising is a plug-in that helps to create and share powerful digital adverts across existing eCommerce platforms to boost sales, and B2B Credit Control is a cost-effective way to manage accounts and payment.
The company’s latest launch is B2B Open Banking, which provides dynamic links directly to a secure page that instigates a bank transfer between customer and wholesaler – not only helping wholesalers get paid quickly, but also bypassing costly card transaction charges.
B2b.store is very active in the food and drink wholesale industry, working with wholesalers and buying groups of all shapes and sizes, including Bestway and Sugro. Since decoupling its modules, the company has seen a big rise in interest in its services and is meeting with several big names across the sector about future projects.
“The most important advice we have for wholesalers is to constantly evaluate how B2B technology is working – and not working – in their business,” Mannion continues. “Understanding the services on the market and how they could streamline your operation and make you more money is crucial to the long-term success of any business in this sector. Don’t stand still.”
Iain Bate, Marketing Manager, Seidor, comments: “Technology has transformed the industry as a whole. Even best-practice processes from a decade ago are now seen as dated. However, we still come across organisations who are using paper processes or badly managed spreadsheets. The organisations who are not taking advantage of automated processes are wasting so much time – and inventory – by working this way.”
To tighten up their Information Technology security, wholesalers will need to do an audit of their software and hardware and see what existing protection they have in place. If there are any glaring issues that are flagged up these should be resolved as a priority.
“It’s important to realise that security issues will always be an issue for organisations. However, working from an integrated system and a central database will help to protect an organisation, rather than swapping data between disparate systems, which can often lead to issues,” adds Bate. “Depending on the sensitivity of your data, this will also depend on the protection you should have.”
Issues around storing sensitive data in the cloud are long gone. But if you do still have concerns or you need to meet strict industry guidelines, you’ll probably want to opt for a private cloud environment, rather than a public one. However, many companies are now adopting a hybrid approach. One where they can store sensitive data locally behind a firewall they manage, and then everything else is migrated and stored in the cloud. This offers companies the best of both worlds.
“All wholesalers should have an online presence,” says Bate. “The pandemic showed that organisations who still rely on customers arriving through the door or passing footfall are the ones most at risk. If you can offer an omni-channel experience to customers they will keep returning – either in person or online.”
Everybody has heard of B2B and B2C models. However, there’s a new model which is proving to be particular popular: D2C. Direct-to-consumer is an eCommerce model where effectively a traditional B2B model works in a similar way to a B2C one.
Manufacturing firms, for instance, now sell directly to end consumers without having to interact with channel partners. Wholesalers should be aware of this new trend as more consumers seek goods faster and at more competitive prices.
SAP Business One was recently voted as the leading ERP solution for small to medium sized organisations. It’s perfect for companies up to 200 employees who are searching for a centralised system to manage key operations that includes a really powerful WMS.
This solution is used globally by more than 70,000 organisations and by some of the industry’s most recognisable brands. More importantly, it has industry-specific tools for wholesalers to streamline and automate key purchasing, supply chain and distribution tasks.
There’s also eCommerce integrations which link to websites or trade portals that automate key sales processes from online orders. It’s the best-in-class SME software.
Comments are closed.