Manage Customer Prices and Beat Your Competition
First, a very important strategy is to determine your product price margins. The margins represent the percentage and difference between the amount you paid for a product and the amount sold.
If margins are not determined at the beginning of starting to sell your products, then you won’t be able to determine how much money you are making on each of your products. If you are a consumer-packaged-goods (CPG) wholesale distributor or manufacturer and sell directly to chain stores, retail stores, supermarkets, convenience stores, bodegas and other businesses, then knowing your margins is a MUST to know how much profit you are making in your wholesale distribution business.
If you ever face challenges with managing custom product pricing when trying to beat your competitors’ offers to customers, you’re not alone. Most of the large distribution companies deliver standard rates, and occasionally, special deals that can provide a lot of stability for many consumers. But you want your business to stand out. You want to establish customer relationships that generate years of loyalty to your company. Above all, you want your distributors to understand the priceless reward of leveling with customers and developing custom prices to fit their needs. Sure, it sounds risky. Custom pricing—how can you actually beat the competition? However, there are ways to efficiently manage this task to make it easier for all parties, including the distributors, management, and customers. Here are four simple tools that can help you achieve this:
Sales order management software – Specifically designed with your exact business style in mind, this can be an ideal solution for a packaged goods company. Whether you’re a small up-and-coming business, known retailer, or manufacturers and distributors, this is a type of program that can easily organize all of your product information, customer history, inventory, and many other analytical figures. Depending on the specific software you choose, this can mean streamlining business data with programs that automatically sort and file information. Keeping your information organized is essential for demonstrating your custom product pricing successes.
An order taking application – When you allow customers to buy your products from anywhere in the world, you’re setting yourself up to thrive. Creating availability means your customers don’t have to wait on order approval, which in turn makes them want to come back to your business of convenience. They can easily order online via computer, laptop, tablet, or smart phone. This application also licenses you to track various customer information so the details can be recorded by one source—the order taking application.
A mobile sales application – This program is especially useful for speeding up the ordering process with manufacturers and distributors. When wholesale salesmen are on the road, they could use software that enables them to sell to customers from any location and at any time. Therefore, a mobile sales application can be beneficial for managing the direct communication between distributors and customers. When customers need a specific price, the application lets manufacturers customize orders and process the shipment efficiently.
A mobile product catalog – Eliminate paper usage and the need for a customer service representative that specializes in product information. With a mobile product catalog, you allow customers to view all of your inventory from the convenience of their electronic devices. Customers can research your company’s products for themselves and estimate total expenses for the items they want. Once they get a ball park figure of the merchandise they’d like to order, they can reference the catalog when making pricing requests. Not only do customers have the ability to see your company’s inventory, but they are also more likely to make purchases based on detailed descriptions.
