Here are 7 things suppliers need to do to drive purchases by retailers:

We have many suppliers to newsagents and other small business retailers who are living in the dark in terms of how they transact with retailers.

Here are 7 things I think suppliers need to do to drive purchases by retailers:

1. Make ordering easy, paperless. Let retailers order online from an easy to navigate website, showing stock on hand for immediate delivery and expected delivery date for future deliveries.
2. Email a copy of the order.
3. Provide access to a library of product photos organised by product code and with an easy download option.
4. Provide an electronic invoice when goods ship.
5. Make handling queries easy, and fast.
6. Offer access to all product pitches as soon as they are available – for access from anywhere. Having to wait for a rep to do a presentation in-store doesn’t respect retailer time.
7. Offer access to anonymised comparative sales data so a retailer can compare their performance for a brand or product with similar sized and situated retailers.

There will be some suppliers who will say this is too complex. The thing is, investing in these steps will, I am sure, boost sales and improve retailer / supplier stickiness.

How we all do business has changed. It is a waste of time having to fill in a paper order form, scan this and email it to a supplier. It is a waste of time having to meet a rep to discuss something face to face that I could scan in minutes at a time of my choosing. It gets all the data in the right place at the right time if I can transact online.

I get the interest from suppliers in personal contact. This is where good sales reps make good money for the companies for which they work. The reps are not working for retailers.

Through Faire and several other online platforms plenty of us are having terrific sales experiences with new suppliers. Old-school suppliers are being left behind.

How we all do business has changed fundamentally. Keep up. Do better even.