Expanding in a Recessionary Cycle
A few weeks ago, we informally polled several of our footwear and apparel clients and the overwhelming response is that we are unfortunately headed into a recessionary cycle. While these cycles are daunting and require well thought out strategies to mitigate risk. They also are great opportunities to optimize sales and maximize margins. Below are some of the questions our clients are asking themselves as they approach these uncertain waters:
1. Are we selling everywhere we can?
2. What percentage of our sales are coming from digital channels?
3. How do we better manage our inventory and demand planning?
Matt Priest, President, and CEO of FDRA (Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America), noted that brands are discounting prices to move a record amount of inventory. In addition, Matt forecasted a decline in consumer spending, consumer spending is holding on, but they're looking at and preparing for a difficult Q1 and Q2 next year. In accordance with these industry trends, brands will need to expand their network of trading partner destinations as well as optimize their existing selling channels. The expansion of trading partner destinations will help move discounted inventory as well as expand into retailers that specialize in discounted products. Furthermore, the optimization of these existing trading partner destinations will help protect integral revenue streams in reaction to a decrease in consumer spending.
These opportunities are rooted in more accurate data to make better and faster decisions. Expanding one's network of trading partner destinations will allow for increased revenue streams, brands will also need to automate labor intensive tasks that take away from the selling process. Moreover, brands will need access to real time product performance data, which will allow for rapid deployment of new sales and inventory management strategies.
Be Proactive, Not Reactive!
Verification Service
Syndic8's Verification Service, which was rolled out as a new product module earlier this year, continues to gain popularity among existing clients. This service includes core, seasonal and on-demand validation that monitors product status across digital trading partner destinations. To broaden their retail presence, brands have expanded into a greater number of digital trading partner destinations. As this network of digital trading partner destinations expands, brands need to utilize tools such as Syndic8's Verification Service to ensure their products are listed on the digital shelf.
Syndic8's Core Verification Service utilizes inventory feeds to confirm products are listed accurately on key trading partner destinations.
- Summarizes product statuses across all digital trading partner destinations.
- Sales teams utilize this analytical report to remediate any incorrectly displayed data on core products.
- For example, Syndic8's Verification Service pinpointed a lack of listing on one of Dan Post Boot's top retailer connection. An incorrect inventory code on the side of the digital trading partner destination resulted in products not being sold, despite inventory availability. Dan Post Boots estimated this would have resulted in a $750,000 loss of potential revenue.
Syndic8's Seasonal Verification allows brands to validate that new products added to digital trading partner connections are live and accurately displayed.
- Provides ease of mind to brands who have spent copious amounts of time developing and delivering new products to both existing and new digital trading partner destinations.
- Delivers weekly tracking reports to ensure continual availability throughout the limited selling season. This enables sales teams to rapidly deploy new sales strategies as well as efficiently manage inventory numbers to satisfy customers demands.
Syndic8's On-Demand Verification Service acts as a spot-check and serves as an excellent basis for an annual meeting with the retailer. Sales managers are provided near real-time stats about selling status, enabling meaningful conversations with the retailer.
Product Spotlight
We are proud to announce our latest improvements to our platform: Real-Time Syndication Updates, Date of Last Syndication, Visual Indications of Attribute Change, and the Walmart Rich Media API Connection:
- Real-Time Syndication gives immediate feedback of progress on where your processing is when syndicating products to a flat file or API submission.
- The Date of Last Syndication for a product is now tracked at a UPC level per destination and is a filterable and searchable field.
- Visual indicators of product attributes changing are now present on product cards within a trading partner to better show what products have been edited since the last time they have been exported for that given trading partner.
- The Walmart Rich Media API connection is now live and we are able to support rich media content submission too Walmart Marketplace!
ACT NOW
Contact our sales team: Trisha Sweeney or Jennifer Craig.