With Christmas fast approaching we’ve seen many of our wholesale customers scale up their marketing efforts to create awareness and inspire retailers in the run up to Christmas.
Whilst the 2013 Christmas range will have been established and sold in with pre-season buying opportunities happening much earlier in 2013, for many wholesalers, it’s a sign of the digital times as B2B businesses are evolving to take advantage of promoting their Christmas ranges to their retail buyers right up until the last minute.
With a range of delivery options, small minimum orders and online catalogues that can showcase new products every month, retailers and resellers are able to keep their stock holding low by placing regular orders in peak periods, a great advantage to reducing stock pressure and helping cash flow.
Here’s a little snippet of our observations of how our wholesaler and cash and carry clients are announcing new ways to inspire existing customers and recruit new trade customers to register with their website in time for the Christmas rush.
1.Christmas catalogues have never been so exciting! Dedicated Christmas ranges showcased through inspirational brochures are being made available in both print and digital formats. Whether it’s a physical brochure or leaflet, a download PDF or flipbook viewable on the website, or an independent app that can be found on the app store, wholesalers are using digital catalogues particularly effectively to showcase latest product ranges and products exclusive to either depot or online. The beauty of a digital catalogue is it’s cost effective to create and can be updated as often as is needed, unlike it’s paper catalogue equivalent which is costly to produce and distribute and may only be updated once or twice per year.
2. Exclusive showroom Christmas days and special showroom offers. Some wholesalers are choosing to move away from the twice yearly trade shows and invest in their own showrooms, offering the trade show experience 7 days a week for their customers. Impactful showrooms can be an enormous asset for a business and used in combination with peak selling periods like Christmas, inviting customers to the showroom for seminars and offering exclusive showroom deals can help create profitable peak periods more regularly throughout the calendar year.
3.Email Marketing. Wholesalers who are not communicating regularly to their customers through targeted email newsletters are missing a trick. With a captive audience ready to hear about new news, hot new products and latest seasonal deals, email marketing done well has the ability to generate thousands of pounds in revenue from one mailing. Emails can be used particularly effectively at peak selling periods to keep trade customers up to date with stock arrivals, clearance lines and last chance to buy offers. It’s cheap, effective and fast.
We’ve noticed a real evolution in wholesalers wanting to get more marketing savvy. Whether it’s generating more leads through SEO and Pay Per Click, or communication to customers through catalogue apps, email marketing and social media, or growing brand awareness through PR and advertising, the next generation of digital wholesalers are getting switched onto marketing and as a result are building their brand and reaping the benefits.
Give us a call if you'd like to learn more. 0116 326 1116.
