Retailers do not make decisions slowly because they do not know what to do. They make decisions slowly because the wholesale business feels like a risk to them.
Every time a retailer decides to sell a product they have to spend money use up shelf space and wait to see how customers will react to the product. This makes them hesitant to make a decision about the product. People often do not understand why retailers are hesitant to try new products.
What Looks Like Hesitation Is Just Being Careful in the Retail Business
From the outside it might look like a retailer is not interested in a product if they delay placing an order for the product.
But when a retailer is making a decision about a product they have some important questions to consider about the product and the retail business:
Will this product sell well in my store and in the retail business?
How much money do I have to spend upfront on the product in the retail business?
What happens if the product does not sell and just sits on the shelf in the retail business?
Can I order more of the product quickly if it does sell well in the retail business?
If a retailer does not have clear answers to these questions about the product and the retail business they will slow down and be more careful in the retail business.
They will wait and think about the product. They will stick with products they already know and like in the business. This is not because they lack ambition. It is because they are being rational and careful in the business and with the product.
Risk Affects How Retailers Make Buying Decisions in the Retail Business
Buying products from wholesalers is not just about choosing a product in the wholesale business and the retail business.
It is also about deciding how much risk to take in the wholesale business and the retail business when buying the product.
When a retailer brings in a new product they are not just deciding if they like the product in the retail business. They are also deciding if they can afford to be wrong about the product in the retail business.
If the order is too big or if it takes long to get feedback about the product or if it is hard to reorder the product the decision becomes harder to make in the retail business.
This is why retailers often choose products and brands they are familiar with in the business. Familiar products and brands feel safer to them in the business. They may not be the option but they are less of a risk to them in the retail business.
Why This Is a Problem for New Brands in the Retail Business
This situation creates a big challenge for new brands that are trying to grow in the retail business.
A new brand may have a great product, nice packaging and a lot of potential in the retail business. If the retailer feels like they are taking a risk by buying the product they may never even try the product in the retail business.
This does not mean the product is bad in the retail business. It means the buying process made the decision feel too risky to them in the retail business.
For brands this is an important thing to understand in the retail business. Retailers may not need to be convinced that the product is interesting in the business. They may need a way to try the product that feels safer to them in the retail business.
Making Buying Safer Helps Retailers Move Faster in the Retail Business
When the wholesale business feels safer to them retailers can move faster in the retail business.
They are more willing to try products in the business. They can make orders in the business. They can learn from how the product sells of just guessing about the product in the retail business.
Making the buying process safer might include things like:
Letting retailers make smaller orders in the retail business for the product
Making it clearer how well a product is selling in the retail business
Making it easier to reorder products in the retail business
Making it easier to work with different vendor systems in the retail business
Giving retailers better warnings when a product is running low in the retail business
These things do not remove all of the risk in the retail business. They make it easier for retailers to make decisions in the business about the product.
The First Order Is the Beginning in the Retail Business
Even when a retailer decides to try a product the risk does not go away in the retail business.
If the product sells well and the retailer cannot order more quickly they will miss out on sales in the retail business. If the product runs out and no one notices the retailer will lose momentum in the business. If it is too hard to reorder the retailer may never place another order in the business for the product.
This is why it is important to make the buying process fast and easy after the first order in the retail business for the product.
Retailers need a way to test products learn from them and reorder them without too much trouble in the retail business.
What Brands Should Know in the Retail Business
For brands the key is not just to push harder for the sale in the retail business.
The better question is: How can we make this decision feel easier and safer for the retailer in the retail business when buying the product?
This might mean giving them a clearer way to test the product in the retail business. It might mean making it easier to see how well the product is selling in the business. It might mean reducing the number of steps needed to reorder in the retail business.
Brands that make buying easier give retailers confidence in the business when buying the product.
And when retailers have confidence they can act faster in the retail business when buying the product.
Final Thoughts in the Retail Business
Risk makes buying slower in the retail business.
When the wholesale business feels uncertain to them retailers hesitate in the retail business. When it feels safer to them they can move faster in the retail business.
The future of the business should not force retailers to make bets without knowing what will happen in the retail business. It should help them make decisions with confidence in the retail business when buying the product.
This is one of the problems we are trying to solve with Ordrly: making the wholesale business easier to test easier to reorder and easier to trust for the business and, for the retail business.