Do your wholesale customers have access to current and accurate inventory availability? No matter whether you are talking to wholesale greenhouses, nurseries, or re-wholesalers, they all seem to feel it isn't a big issue or not a priority. But that is not what we are hearing from retailers, who feel a little left in the dark when it comes to current inventory availability. All re-wholesalers and growers seem to have their way of handling inventory without necessarily considering the needs of their customers and that is not good for your business.
The Retail Purchaser's Perspective
We spoke with garden center purchasers across the country, and they all seem to have the same difficulties when placing their wholesale orders. They never really know what is available from their growers. At best, they receive a weekly availability list through email, but that list can be outdated within a day of receiving it. At worst, they have their own customers that they have made a commitment to, based on outdated information and now have potentially lost a sale because that product is out of stock or on back-order. So these purchasers now have to scramble to contact their supplier directly by calling, emailing or faxing just to receive information on what is available. Compound the situation by not getting an immediate response from their supplier and you can quickly imagine the frustration and the ramifications of a retailer who feels that they can’t rely on their supplier. You reputation and theirs are now on the line.
Learn more about inventory management
Without proper inventory management wholesalers risk:
- Over-production, resulting in waste
- Under-selling or over-selling inventory
- Frequent and labor-intensive inventory checks
- Large amounts of manual data entry
- Lost sales
Customer service is at the core of every business, no matter which end of the supply chain you are on. A friendly and apologetic voice at the end of the phone line can only go so far and only works once. Exceptional customer service is about the respect of your customer's needs and time.
It’s About Their Time, Not Yours
The solution is simple. Provide your customers with current inventory availability through your self-service online ordering. A purchaser at a garden center has a lot to manage in a day and would rather order their way, when it is convenient for them.
“86% prefer using self-service tools for reordering rather than talking to a sales representative.”(Statista, 2017)
Self-service customer ordering offers growers and distributors opportunities to re-allocate resources to manage their inventory more efficiently and accurately. Through the use of inventory management solution, a supplier provides a better customer experience, while improving internal efficiencies.
Investing in improving your business’s inventory visibility, through technology offers significant savings in unnecessary waste and labor costs in the future. Furthermore, accurate inventory visibility provides distributors and growers opportunities to better work together to meet the needs of the retail purchaser. Achieving greater inventory visibility in any industry offers benefits to all levels of the supply chain. The key is to adopt technology that works together with data to better inform all stakeholders. Investment in inventory management technology that integrates into a self-service ordering system like OrderEase will provide a better purchasing experience and greater inventory visibility in the industry.