CGTA RETAILERS’ SATISFACTION WITH NEW PRODUCTS PLUMMET…vendors offering new collections rewarded.

The recent CGTA annual report ominously warned, “Buyers who were very satisfied with new product introductions fell … to 26 per cent.”

Basically 75% of retailers are unhappy with the main reason you are a wholesaler..to bring them new products they can sell.   

And as we noted here, retailers rank wholesalers as a bigger problem than big-box retailers.    

The report sadly added,  “Research conducted with attendees… demonstrated that the number one reason retailers attend gift shows is to find new products.  However, this is the one area buyers continue to find disappointing.    Approximately 85 per cent of buyers that attend the gift shows agree they want to see more new product introductions.

In this post we’ll show you how one wholesaler,  after several years of flat sales, re-vitalized their business by focusing on new product development.  And as an added bonus they were also able to reduce their overall inventory levels as well.

More products and lower inventories…now that’s how you compete!

SALES STRATEGY: LEAVE THE CROWD BEHIND

What is your sales strategy? 

Does your sales strategy start with:

• a product launch at a trade show?
• followed by a motivational speech to your reps to get on the road to sell that great new collection you have?
• and finally some discount-promotions to boost your flat sales?

You probably answered yes to each of these.  That’s almost every CGTA vendor’s sales strategy.  

In this post we'll show you how some vendors are taking a new approach...and tripling their same-store sales.  Read on...

CGTA RETAILERS RANK WHOLESALERS AS A BIGGER THREAT THAN BIG BOX STORES!

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A recent survey by the CGTA identified increased costs from wholesalers as one of the top problems faced by CGTA retailers.  

How big a concern is this?  Retailers ranked it as a bigger threat than competition from big box stores!

Now if you are a supplier think about this:  Your own customers view you as a bigger menace than their actual competitors!

CGTA TRADE SHOWS: SALES GRIDLOCK

The CGTA trade show will, in 4 short days, generate more sales than in the following 5 months for most wholesalers!

Many wholesalers and sales representatives will generate 60% to 70% of their sales at this event. Now think about that.  If 4 days generates 70% of this business, it begs the question, what is going on the rest of the year?

Some find it difficult to believe the trade shows represent such a wildly disproportionate source of revenues. But if you don’t understand this huge bottleneck, you can’t get out of the traffic jam and on the road to bigger sales.

In this post we’ll look at data provided by retailers with corroborating results from wholesalers. 

BESTSELLERS GET THE BUZZ…but it’s the boring products that drive your sales.

“What are your best-sellers?”  Almost everybody in the CGTA wants to know the “top 10”.  The fact is, the relative importance of best-sellers is greatly exaggerated.

We’ve all heard the mantra, 80% of sales originate from 20% of products.  The rule of the bestsellers.  It's widely quoted...yet it simply does not exist in practical terms…and it is so easy to identify that it’s a little disconcerting many CGTA players often quote this false statistic.