The retailers rock

I have almost finished my tour of the retailers and it has been a wonderful and incredible journey. They are so passionate, knowledgeable and in tune with their consumer and, at the same time, conscious of the complexity and the need to always get the operational infra-structure of retail perfectly right.

For the last 15 years I have had clients ask me to produce a raft of ideas that will engage their retail partners. I have done so with blinding obedience and managed to produce a raft of award winning brilliance. What is nuts, is the fact that these ideas have been founded upon the brief from the clients and not any in-depth understanding of the retailers.

I have created my top 8 tips

• Listen to the retailer - they know what works and what doesn't. They have seen it all before.
• Action what you promise to action. The retailers are operationally brilliant. They have timelines and commitments. If you commit to deliver - you must honour it to a timeline.
• Establish how you can become a strategic partner - vendor implant, floor staff subsidisation, training etc
• Stop being a box mover - once you have the order and they have a store full of your products, help them move it through and be very aware of how your product is tracking. The retailers make very fast decisions based on today's news. They do not wait for you.
• Appreciate their position in the marketplace. Each retailer believes they are very different from the rest. Their systems are different. The opportunity for you to integrate into the unique systems in that retailer are a real possibility.
• Look outside the limitations of your own imagination. The answer may lie in floor staff engagement or innovation - not just another promotion.
• Offer each retailer something unique. One size does not fit all and while national brand campaigns are great for driving consumer awareness, the sale is closed by the retailer and if another brand is offering them exclusive support - they will switch every consumer.
• Understand where the retailer sits in the consumers mind - they are the agent. They employ your neighbours and friends. They are part of the local community and often are so firmly anchored in the consumers life they are capable switching even the most insistent consumer.

Of course you still need Bamboo Marketing's help to come up with the bold idea, but by accommodating these tips you can begin to move closer to the retailer and hopefully sell more stuff!