Resources are always scarce for small businesses but growth certainly cannot be held up because of this reason.
There are ample ways for small businesses to extend their touchpoints and sell to a plethora of consumers worldwide. However, flying solo in this show not only is a toilsome option, but it also impedes growth.
Open your product to a third-party like stockist for distribution and reselling, on the other hand maintain your inventory at a healthy level and provide 6 other immensely significant advantages for your business.
Definition of Stockist: A party who purchases and stores a certain quantity of products of a brand for distribution in a specific territory, either to other resellers or selling the products on behalf of the brand directly to the customer base they developed.
In this article, we discuss about the benefits of B2C stockists – stockist who sell directly to the consumer.
HIGH IN-PERSON PRODUCT ACCESSIBILITY
High degree of mindshare equals to high tendency of customer loyalty and sales. It is no wonder that businesses cash in on the bandwagon effect through micro-influencers.
Great online exposure only creates buzz, nonetheless. To start converting, customers need a few more good reasons from you. Nothing is more convincing than giving your potential customers a taste of the value your products hold.
eCommerce offers a wide range of business advantages, but in-person product experience is not one of them. While customers enjoy the 24/7 shopping experience eCommerce offers, many would prefer to have their hand on the product to examine the details before they proceed to purchase.
Partner with stockists worldwide allows your eCommerce customers who are still in the deciding stage to have a closer look at the product and test it in person. This is exceptionally essential for boosting consumer confidence as it gives clarity and reduces confusion; ergo, more sales conversion.
LOW BUSINESS EXPANSION COST
Furthermore, partnering with multiple stockist expands your customer base fast in a more cost-effective manner.
One undeniable truth about setting up a physical store is it requires a substantial investment in time and monetary costs. Let alone doing this on the international play fields. Partner up with brick-and-mortar stockists on the other hand fulfill the same purpose without breaking the bank like how setting up your own retail store would do.
After analyzing and identifying your global target market, consider partnering with stockists in the geographic region you’re expanding to. It will save your business from the hassle of:
- Imports and exports
- Global Shipping Documentation, i.e HS Code
- Warehousing
- Retail store set up
- Local laws and regulations
- Recruitment
Collaborating with a stockist will allow you to store your products at their locations, and this will help in lowering your stockholding, eliminating the warehousing costs as well as distribution costs. In addition, customers can easily pick up the items at the nearest stockist available to them, thus also reducing the time for customers to receive their purchases.
DIVERSIFY YOUR CUSTOMER BASE
Now, you see how stockist cuts out the conventional business set up process from the business expansion equation. You have all the freedom to partner with as many stockist as you can to rapidly expand your business locally and internationally – you win both in quantity and diversity.
As the list of your stockist grows so do the diversity of your customer base. Your brand will eventually gain more exposure as it has an extremely high share of mind in various communities.
By then, you will face new challenges. One of them will be how to maintain high relevancy communication and implement impactful marketing in all these different communities with scarce resources.
It sounds like a silent wish of all small businesses (or even big corporates).
BOOST SALES WITH COMPELLING MARKETING STRATEGY
Fundamentally, stockists make profit from selling the goods they bought from a brand to the customer base they developed.
Unlike a brand who often focuses on bringing value and offering solutions to a wide range of audience with its products, stockist begins its enterprise by building a micro-community with a niche interest and focus solely on offering value to customers within this circle.
A small and discrete segment of target audiences allows stockists to focus on constructing communication and tailoring appropriate marketing activity aiming only at this single type of audience.
Hence, it is no surprise if the stockist holds a bigger persuasive power in its close-knit community than the brand.
Take Stickerrific as an example. As a Malaysian stockist who carries a broad spectrum of unique stationery, the business has a distinctively defined target audience - stationery enthusiast. Whether it is their social media, eCommerce website or physical retail store, most visitors share the same set of intentions and interests.
BUILD CUSTOMER RAPPORT EVERYWHERE
Imagine now your business has reached a new milestone and has established brand presence in several communities, regions, and start gaining customer from different part of the world.
The task of building customer rapport has become more complex and demanding. Small businesses will always find it strenuous to stay relevant to their target audience as business growth leads to not only customer base expansion but also diversification.
Fortunately, stockists can be the one voice for your business in the community they are in. They serve one community, speak one language, therefore will always be on the same wavelength as the community.
Stockists take full responsibility for delighting customers within their reach. Be it online or in-store shopping, they play a retailer role in responding to the queries of customers and assisting customers throughout their shopping journey.
Partnering with different stockists worldwide and forging a strong relationship with them is one way to build customer rapport and generate word-of-mouth for your brand.
GAIN HIGH VALUE MARKET INSIGHT
Lastly, stockist is the door to the consumer insight goldmine.
The most valuable customer data all businesses seek is usually not laid wide open on the internet. Businesses invest millions every year to derive consumer insight from the market. While there is a vast array of market analysis methods, tools or even services out there in the market you can employ, they are expensive.
Consumer insights in essence is obtaining information such as:
- The needs and desires of customers in general
- The logic behind every purchase or a sales fallout
- Elements that motivate or hinder a purchase
- The rationale behind every good and bad performing product
Stockist will have all the above-mentioned information firsthand. Hence, forget about big data and the high-priced, complex consumer insight acquisition method (for now). Instead, leverage the superpower of your stockist.
Know that your relationship with stockist can be a two-way transaction. It can go beyond supply and purchase if you start approaching stockist regularly with a set of questions.
The proximity of stockist to its community has just given them the advantage to actively observe and decipher the behavior of its community. As a brand owner, you can excavate this goldmine and make use of this data to improve your products and business holistically.
Stockist is not a new strategy in the market. In fact, there are many Malaysian’s brands successfully expanded their business worldwide through this strategy.
If you’re ready to take your business to the global stage, lay out all the options you have - be sure to make stockist one of them. Start drafting your stockist strategy and reach out to those that suit your business.
