How much time have you spent designing your product packaging? How many times have you had a redeveloped a display or POS material design? And how many hours have your sales people already spent trying to get a better position on the shelves?
It all takes a bit of effort, but you do it so that shoppers can see your products. Feel drawn to them. And ultimately buy your products (hence ignoring your competitors).
If we told you now that about 80% of your professional end-users order through their wholesalers’ webshops, would you be able to say that you spend a proportionate amount of time working on those online shelves? In our experience, there is substantial room for improvement in that department.
Earlier, we wrote an article on the importance of product information in e-commerce.
On several occasions, we have been in talks with food manufacturers who already have their product information in good order. This is often in an internal product information system, transferred from there to an online product specification database such as PS in foodservice.
Databases such as PS are essential in today’s age of e-commerce, where there are so many different lines connecting manufacturers and outlets. Having a central storage place for all the specifications means your product information is available everywhere. Any party selling your products can display the correct information nice and tidy. So you can happily close your laptop or join in the next meeting right on time.
Unfortunately, in reality it doesn’t always work out that your efforts lead to the perfect online sales pages at wholesalers. You may not have the time to check out all the outlets for all your products yourself. And in all honesty, do you know what you should actually be looking out for? Things are just a little bit different online than on shop shelves. Have you considered, for example, that on shop shelves you can see how big a package is, while there can be some uncertainty there in an online shop?
A Perfect Store Online is a webshop where customers can find the right products in the right place, presented in the best possible way to influence their purchase behaviour. To achieve that, we have developed a product called Perfect Store Check. Together, we work on showcasing your products perfectly in the most important webshops.
For a relatively small fee, you can put us to work exploring your sales channels in depth when it comes to product presentation, and taking a great deal of the work off your shoulders. Investing in sales pages that convert better can get you a 2% sales growth through online channels (empirical data).
The Perfect Store project from GROUP7 consists of 3 or 4 steps, which we can also customise in consultation with you:
Step 1: We optimise your product presentation
To start with, we will work with you on optimising this foundation. In doing so, we are creating a benchmark that we can use to later assess the various product pages at wholesalers.
We work closely with you to select 20* of your most relevant products and determine the optimal presentation for them. For the Dutch and Belgian markets, we do this using the Foodbook from PS in foodservice. We check whether you have completed all of the information in full and in the best possible way. We give you concrete tips on online performance, shopper experience and how to use keywords to improve your findability in searches.
If you’re interested in this last topic, we recently wrote another blog about that, which you can go back and read here.
(*we can tailor this product if you wish to include additional or fewer products or wholesalers in this process)
We will then soon be able to provide you with the initial results and discuss areas for improvement. After that, we’ll give you the time you need to implement the improvements, for example in the Foodbook. Once you give us the go-ahead, we’ll move on to Step 2.
Step 2: GROUP7 conducts an objective, online store check for you.
In other words, we compare your ideal product presentation that we created in Step 1 with the real-life situation in the 4* most important online shops. We focus on several different aspects. These include legally required fields such as ingredients and allergies as well as commercial fields such as product names, images and descriptions.
(*we can tailor this product if you wish to include additional or fewer products or wholesalers in this process)
In the standard product, that means we conduct a total of 1280 checks: 4 webshops, 20 items, 16 aspects. In addition, we also check whether non-standard product texts at wholesalers contain the main keywords you use in your description. To make sure the search engines are happy, the largest wholesalers prefer to have unique content on their pages. And that is perfectly fine, as long as all of the key unique selling points (USPs) and search terms are reflected in the text.
For the Dutch and Belgian markets, we work with PS in foodservice to ensure that only the relevant checks have to be done. If your list includes a wholesaler that imports 100% of the PS information, we don’t need to check that one. In that case, we’d rather put our efforts and your money into a more relevant party where there are gains to be made.
You will then receive a clear-cut report at the end of this phase, showing which aspects the wholesalers score well and less well on. Both at the product level and at the wholesale level. This will save you a massive amount of time and provide you with clear arguments for your next conversations with wholesalers.
Step 3. The improvement process
Because we understand how different wholesalers work, we can advise you on the most effective path forward. Based on the report, we advise you on ways to optimise your product presentation.
Often, you will need the cooperation of your wholesalers, so you will have to engage with them. During this process, we will give you insights that will benefit both you and your wholesaler.
Are you looking to have your final product content improved by specialists? In that case, we refer you to Skudio.
Step 4. Periodic progress checks
To ensure that the improvements are actually carried out, GROUP7 can do progress checks for you, for example every quarter or every year. This involves the same products and wholesalers.
We also frequently get requests to bring in 20 other products during the next check. That’s also no problem, of course. But then we’ll need to include at least Step 1 again to get the foundation right.
VAST EXPERIENCE WITH THESE PROCESSES
Last year, GROUP7 delved deep into the Perfect Store Online process. A survey was conducted in 7 countries, at 32 different wholesalers, for 6 different food manufacturers.
This often results in a huge number of areas for improvement. Often a lot more than clients had imagined beforehand.
These clients are then able to approach wholesalers with concrete guidelines and discuss the proposed areas for improvement. And come to appropriate solutions together. In the long run, that will bring you a higher sales percentage. You can do the math to see what a 2% increase will bring in.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU SIGN UP?
When you sign up for a GROUP7 Perfect Store Check, we will contact you to schedule an initial appointment.
In our first meeting, we’ll go through the entire project with you. We’ll make agreements and make sure everything is clear on both sides.
Once all of the arrangements are in place, we can start! We’ll then get to work on identifying your ideal product presentation.
The project usually lasts 4 to 6 weeks, depending on how much time you can dedicate to it.
WHAT RESULTS CAN YOU EXPECT FROM A PERFECT STORE CHECK?
If your customers can find the right products, properly categorised and ideally presented, the likelihood of a purchase will naturally increase.
You can count on sales results increasing for each wholesaler. How much obviously depends on the current situation, but up to around 2% is possible. What we see as results:
– Better brand image
– Better findability in webshops
– Increased sales
– Increased cross-selling
– More new clients
A Perfect Store Check will also make you a more effective counterpart in your discussions with wholesalers.
When is it not successful?
This process is not about marketing alone. A key account manager will ultimately have to engage with wholesalers. Some wholesalers make supplying product information very easy, while others need guidance.
HOW MUCH BUDGET DO I NEED TO SET ASIDE?
We can do a GROUP7 Perfect Store project from as little as €3.000 excluding VAT.
Please bear in mind that a lot of work needs to be done: a lot of analysis, two working sessions and preparing the dashboard. We really get to work for you. And in the process, we use our very own proven and unique method.
We will go through all of this during our first meeting. In other words, you do not commit to anything until you agree with the approach and our proposal.
HOW CAN I SIGN UP?
It’s very simple! Just click the button below and sign up for a GROUP7 Perfect Store Check. We will then contact you and schedule an introductory meeting.