Introduction
Small and medium-sized wholesalers are the backbone of most economies. While larger and multinational wholesalers are typically focused on reporting quarterly or semi-annual financial figures, traditional wholesalers aim for greater efficiencies. Why? Because even a small change or tweak can produce a bigger result that is keenly felt by small and medium-sized businesses.
Here we’ll focus on the “why” and not the “how” as there are many warehouse consultants who will gladly do an independent audit and assessment for you. The act of doing a complete warehouse audit is beyond the scope of a single blog post. Focusing on the “why” also helps to justify why you should invest time and money in regular warehouse audits.
Why We Do Regular Warehouse Assessments
As a wholesaler in a competitive industry and running on razor-thin margins, what really separates you from the rest of the pack? Products are rapidly getting commoditized. So why should one customer choose your products over another? Low prices are definitely a factor but it’s little comfort for a retail buyer if these low prices mean constant stock-outs.
So what really gets a retail customer coming back to a wholesaler? We think that it is simply fantastic customer service and an on-going business relationship. Wholesalers might not desire or even want a customer that shops purely on price. This means a short-term relationship that ebbs and flows with prices. Here today, gone tomorrow.
Most wholesalers would want customers that stick around and buy in increasing quantities. You create this “stickiness” by improving your order fill rate, for example. Customers love wholesalers who maintain a consistently high order fill rate. Other ways might be ease of ordering and purchasing. Or simply just a good, trusting business relationship.
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