Do you want to know how to be a good supplier that resellers can trust over time? How can they tell at first glance that you’re a good, professional service? There are many things a company must do to sell its goods and services to retailers in an efficient way. When it comes to trading online, there are more things to think about. Whether you only sell products to other businesses (B2B) or also to consumers (B2C), you have to deal with different problems. By following some of the tips below, you can build relationships that will last.
When you sell products to online retailers as a supplier, you have to be open to new opportunities and keep up with the newest ways to do business online. For example, in this new decade, if you don’t offer dropshipping services, you miss out on a lot of potential customers. In general, you and your team need certain skills and traits to run your business in a professional way. Also, there are certain services and solutions you should offer your customers if you want them to stay with you and be happy with your brand.
How to be a Good Vendor in the Year 2023?
To meet all the needs for a business that can be successful in the long run, it takes time, effort, and sometimes a little bit more money as well. You need to remember that it’s good for both you and your retailing partners to give every piece of information that’s needed in detail, to offer the most up-to-date and innovative solutions, and to provide customer-friendly service in general. Now let’s look at the most important parts of being a good supplier and running a successful business, as well as how to give your partners 5-star service.
Quality as a Priority
If you want to be a good supplier and keep retailers and their customers interested in you and your products after the first sale, you need to be committed to quality. The quality of your products is the most important part of selling them to other businesses and to customers. You must be responsible and conscious. It’s better for you, your clients, your customers, and the environment if you sell high-quality goods. This way, you can also avoid getting messages from people who are unhappy. When we talk about quality, we’re talking about the whole service you provide, including helpful customer service.
Feedback in a Hurry
If you want to have a good relationship with your retailing clients and be a good supplier partner, you need to give them feedback quickly. It’s important to respond within a few hours if they have questions about your products, orders, or if there is a problem. If you are on dropship-empire Marketplace, they can talk to you through the in-app retailer-supplier chat, email, social media, or the phone. For great customer service, you need to care about the customer, be patient, and keep trying.
Ships quickly
If you want to be a good supplier, you need to make sure shipping is easy. You can sell your items not only in your area but also around the world. Make sure that your shipping time and shipping costs are fair. A retailer may choose to work with you as a supplier partner if you have low shipping costs and quick delivery times.
Offer a service for drop shipping
Dropshipping is growing along with online shopping. More and more people are opening online stores, and dropshipping is a great way for them to do business because they don’t have to spend money on stocking products ahead of time. So, if you want to be a good supplier, you should offer this service. More clients would choose you, and you would make more money because more people would want to buy your products.
Prices that are competitive
If you want to be a good supplier that retailers like and that is a good choice, you need to have the best prices for your products. Think of your supplier’s competitors on the market to get an idea of what prices should be. If your prices are too high compared to the value and quality of your products and are also much higher than the average price for that product category, retailers are less likely to choose you as a partner.
Service on warranties is great
To be a good supplier, you need a good policy for giving money back. It’s important because if something goes wrong with a product by accident or if it breaks during shipping, you need to be ready to handle the problem and work it out with your retail partner and their customers.
Lots of items in stock
If you own an online store and are thinking about selling your products to other resellers in addition to selling them to customers, you should make sure you have a lot of stock. It doesn’t look good if retailers are looking at your products and think that each of them has 5 or 7 items instead of, say, hundreds. Also, if you start working with more retailers, your products will be seen by a bigger audience, so they may sell out very quickly. If you want your business to be a good provider, you can’t let this happen.
Sell things that you really own
Retailers like to work with companies that are true B2B suppliers. You must meet this condition to be a good supplier. You need to have actual products in stock. The best thing to do is to make what you sell yourself. There are many parts to the trading model, so you don’t have to be a manufacturer to be a supplier company. You don’t have to be a factory to work with manufacturers and sell their products. You can be a distributor, trading company, or vendor. But you shouldn’t become a supplier in any system if you buy your products from someone else.
Because of this, the prices of the items in your online store are very high, and you can’t offer retailers a high profit margin. For the stores that would buy from you, it wouldn’t be a good way to make money at all. If they see that your prices are too high, they won’t even want to work with you. They won’t think of you as a good supplier partner.
Don’t make big changes without telling your partners about them.
When you make big changes without telling your retail partners, it can cause a lot of trouble. Let’s say you don’t tell your partners that you want to offer retailers a lot fewer products. They already put your products in their store, and maybe they only sell your items, highlight some of them, or promote them on Facebook. Suddenly, a lot of your products are no longer available. Of course, they will send you letters about how they feel.
Another example is when the price of your products goes up without any warning. They put their own markup on the products, and if they don’t notice that your prices have gone up or down, they won’t make as much money as they thought they would. Make sure things like this don’t happen if you want to be a good supplier partner for retailers.
Be able to give out samples of your goods
Sending retailers samples of your products can be important, so it’s another key to being a good supplier partner for them. They sometimes don’t want to start selling certain products until they know for sure that they are good. Nothing is wrong with it. Make sure you can give samples to the stores that want them. It can help you expand your network of retail partners.
Know a lot about what you sell
If you want to be a good supplier, you need to know a lot about the type of goods you sell. Obviously, it wouldn’t happen if you’re the one making the product, but it could if you’re a distributor who buys items from real manufacturers. Choose a type of product that you know a lot about. If a retailer or one of their customers asks you about a product, how it works, how to fix it, or anything else, make sure you can answer their questions.
Get the goods to the customers on time
For sure, if you want to be a good supplier, you need to be able to fill orders on time. If it doesn’t happen, customers may complain, and they would be right to do so. If you say you can deliver in 3–6 days, it should arrive in no more than 6 days if it’s well packaged.