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5 WAYS TO WIN

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If you haven’t woken up to the prospect of your clients being lured away by online sellers, it’s time. Vendors such as Vistap-rint and CustomInk have the e-commerce platform, advertising, pricing and simplicity to reach buyers at home, school or the office.

It’s a phenomenon that’s a long time coming. The leading competitive threat in 2015 was websites selling promotional products, according to 44% of distributors responding to Counselor’s 2016 State of the Industry survey – a worry that has steadily grown since 2008, when slightly more than one quarter (26%) expressed concern. The fear is consistent regardless of distributors’ region or company revenue.

Who is faring best against online competitors? Those with an annual sales volume over $1 million retain a greater per-centage of their clients than midsize or small distributors. They also gain more new clients, indicating that online competitors might not be as challenging to them as feared.

Larger companies also have the virtual infrastructure for online sales. Distributors with e-commerce attribute an average of 19% of revenue coming from online orders. Forty percent of distributors overall have some amount of e-commerce.

What are they doing differently? And, more importantly, what can you do to build and protect your clients against a raid by online competitors? Let’s break it down:

The leading

competitive threat

in 2015 was websites

selling promotional

products, according

to 44% of distributors

responding to

Counselor’s 2016

State of the Industry

survey.

1ANALYZE THE PRIZE

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Larger distributors are more likely to employ customer analytics, such as:Tracking frequency of client purchases.Calculating the lifetime value of a client.Offering formal client recognition programs.

Review your client list and determine who your best clients are and how to develop your relationship with them.

2 DIFFERENTIATEYOURSELF

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The clients served by larger distributors seek services in addition to product, whereas smaller distributors believe their clients shop primarily on price. Look for value-added perks, such as addressing issues of product safety and compliance. Show your clients that the deal they get online might not be the best deal in the end.Assure them that creativity, quality, imprinting and distribution are services that, in the end, will bring better results and protect their reputation.

3 CREATE AN ONLINE PRESENCE

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Social media was a leading source of new promotional product business in 2015, along with a healthy showing for websites and email campaigns.While referrals continue to outpace any other method of growing business, getting a foot in the door with online communication and e-commerce is a good way to build name recognition and a following. If you don’t want to create it yourself, seek a reputable platform provider. Make sure they have an available help desk and provide updates regularly.

4 SECURE TRANSACTIONS

With credit information being compromised as retail giants like Target get hacked, the security of your e-commerce site should be top of mind. Hackers today slip in the front and back doors of platforms, so it’s imperative to have a seasoned tech team or secure e-commerce provider to oversee the risk.Show your clients that their personal and business data is safe.

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5 GET YOUR BACK END IN LINE

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Creating an online presence can be daunting – even more so when you consider all the back-office management that’s required.Calculate order entry, financing, inventory, billing, warehousing and fulfillment when you plan to expand into e-commerce.

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The bottom line is that you can level the playing field.Whether your competition is a larger distributor or an online seller, Geiger gets it and has your back. As part of Geiger’s eMarketingPRO™ service, you’ll get a personal-ized geiger.com site that features the majority of Geiger’s top-selling items, with new products added daily. Any orders from the site will come directly to you and won’t be processed as a lead. Your personal contact information, logo and picture will be displayed on the home page. Add in the 24/7 help desk and administrative support, and you’ll awaken a new revenue stream of sales that you thought wasn’t possible.