2020 survey

Quickbooks in conjunction with Linkedin did a survey of over 3600 small business owners and customers in an effort to discover what worked best in growing a small business.

The statistics from their survey that stood out to me was the question to buyers of what most influenced them in their decision to buy. The top response was “quality of the product or service.” This even beat out the response of “lowest price.” 59% of buyers thought that quality was the #1 factor in making a purchasing decision.

This is incredibly impactful for wholesale distributors because it reminds you that your buyers care a lot about the quality of the service you provide. Regardless of what product you ship out, or the price of that product the experience of purchasing from you matters a lot.

So how can wholesale distributors use this to their advantage? You can ensure the experience is as efficient and helpful as possible. Part of the reason people go back to Amazon over and over is because Amazon focuses on an efficient and helpful purchasing experience to the degree that it’s a science. You don’t have to be Amazon to learn from their strengths and as this survey in 2020 shows, people use their perception of the quality of the service as the major factor in purchasing.

Tactics for wholesale distributors

So now on to tactics: How do you improve the quality of your buying experience?

  1. Speed (Buyers expect the order process to be quick.)
  2. Easy (Buyers want helpful options easily available in their order process.)
  3. Accurate (Errors in your process are unacceptable.)

To improve speed, go to your inventory management software and focus on how long it takes for an order to be logged and processes from start to finish. Find ways to speed up the slowest parts of the process of order fulfillment. Is the process automated? If not then you are not only lowering your speed but risking accuracy.

To improve ease of use, consider how customers input an order. Do you have a B2B e-commerce site where they could do it themselves at all hours? Is your order process as simple as it can be? If not, how can you add functions that your buyers might want?

To improve accuracy, focus on automating processes, both to create consistency as well as reducing human error. Barcode scanners in picking are an easy way to automate. Automated transactional emails that automatically send out a tracking number when items are shipped is another way to use your inventory management software to improve quality of service for your buyers.

Pick a tactic, any of the 3 and do something today. The more you improve the quality of your service the more you will increase your sales and remove barriers to your growth.

By Jonathan Ames of Zangerine