Questions

First, if your business plan depends on sales via your stockists, you want to make sure the methods you undertake do not undermine this revenue stream. Most merchants do not relish competing with their suppliers, though in this day and age is more expected. (When I was acting as a reseller, I started purchasing from Amazon.com because the pricing beat my wholesalers, who were also competing with me.) So, when determining your direct strategy, keep this in mind.

With this in mind, the next step is to build a direct sales strategy. This really only has two pieces. The first is determine how you want to differentiate yourself. Generally, when the wholesaler sells direct, the differentiator is price, i.e. "buying direct saves." Of course, you can differentiate on many fronts - customer service, speed, shipping costs, etc. (Just be sure that your pricing / terms don't alienate your stockists.)

The second piece is simply marketing the differentiation. For example, if the focus is on better prices, wholesalers will brand their stores as "Outlets", "Direct Centers", "Buy Direct", etc., which are associated with such savings. From there, it is a matter of creating and advertising mix that combines audience (keywords / demographics) with messages (ad copy / landing pages.)

Hope this gets you started. Let me know if I can be of any further assistance.


Answered 9 years ago

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