Successful independent tire wholesalers have long since realized that price alone doesn’t result in success. In fact, as any given market matures and its suppliers consolidate, many wholesalers simply can’t win on price alone.
With that, they have come to the conclusion that the more ‘value-added’ services they offer a customer, the more likely they are to secure that business for the long term.
Whether it is providing consistent, reliable deliveries, marketing and advertising assistance or general business consulting, wholesalers are bringing more than ever to the table to stay competitive. Why? Because they realize that the more successful the retailer is, the more successful they will be.
Today, these types of value-added programs have expanded to include information technology.
But, what can a wholesaler add to a retailer’s business from an IT standpoint, beyond online ordering? Let’s remember that, in many cases, the retailer may be a small, ‘mom-and-pop’ store with limited access to technology. In fact, some of these small businesses are so engrossed with the day-to-day challenges of getting customers in and out the door that they don’t take notice of the many ways in which technology could help them – not just in terms of saving time but actually growing the business.
Today, many wholesalers are working with software providers to provide solutions tailored to their retail customers’ businesses. In the course of helping their customers, those wholesalers are also helping themselves.
How can that be?
Picture a wholesaler selling tires to a retailer that has either no software or incompatible software. The wholesaler has to create price lists and send them to the retailer. Then, the retailer either works off of the written price list or manually creates the item in an inventory file. As items are added and prices change (two things that happen more frequently today than ever), the wholesaler has to create more lists, while the retailer has to work harder to keep up.
Meanwhile, the retailer flounders in other areas of technology. Sometimes, the company runs just a generic accounting program with no ability to handle various idiosyncrasies of the tire business. As a result, the retailer may not be able to leverage vehicle history to market to customers, or it may be stocking the wrong number of tires and parts because the software doesn’t help determine optimum inventory levels.
Enter the wholesaler with an integrated solution. The forward-thinking wholesaler has already done the homework, so it already knows that its tire-industry-specific software will work for its customer. Correct inventory and pricing information is pre-loaded from a pre-developed template. And, anytime a change is made, it is automatically downloaded to the retailer’s system.
The end result: The retailer always has complete and up-to-date inventory records. At the same time, the retailer has a tailor-made system that will provide the tools it needs to grow the business.
In the end, this kind of wholesaler-retailer hookup is a win-win. The retailer gets a system designed for the industry and fully endorsed by the supplier. In addition, the retailer saves time upfront; the system is pre-loaded with the supplier’s inventory and pricing. Time is also saved in the long run because the retailer gets continuous, automatic updates from the wholesaler.
The wholesaler wins, as well. By recommending such a system, the wholesaler is providing a valuable tool to the retailer to help grow its business. In addition, customer systems are already loaded with the specific inventory that the wholesaler wants to sell, and the wholesaler can automatically push inventory and pricing updates to customers.
Most importantly, though, the wholesaler is creating a close bond with its retail customer.
Savvy wholesalers and retailers view their relationships not in terms of supplier-customer but in terms of a long-term partnership, in which each party’s success is largely dependent on the other’s.
If you are a wholesaler in today’s hyper-competitive market, you should be looking at leveraging technology, not just to save time for yourself but, more importantly, to help make your customers more successful and, as a result, tie them more closely to you.
Ask your software provider if it has the technology to help make you and your customers more successful – both today and in the future.
