|
Retail SMART |
Business
to Business |
|
|
By:
Dennis A. Conforto
Chairman & CEO of A-Z Media Group, Inc. |
|
|
It’s not often that a retail business has opportunities for Business to Business or B2B relationships, but the scrapbooking retailer and manufacturer are in a unique position. Today, scrapbooking has many options. And because of the number of viable options, we have dedicated the month of April to articles on how B2B should work in a retail store today. This week we will talk about corporate accounts.
It didn’t dawn on me until a few months back (as I prepared for classes that I was conducting for CHA Winter) that in my previous business we recorded our company history in what I would now call a corporate scrapbook. Each year, pictures of current events would come off the wall and be placed carefully into a book dated by year. Every year the chronicling of current events would cover the walls and every year these chronicles would be filed in a book.
This practice does two things for a company: it is both a reminder of the company’s history and a protection of the corporate culture. This natural event of company scrapbooking occurs across North America, presenting a huge opportunity for scrapbooking retailers and manufacturers. It is time for the industry to create templates for companies to either build their own scrapbooks or for a retailer to sign an agreement to provide that service for them.
I believe that getting outside of the store is not only healthy business but also SMART business. There are companies all over the world than can and will use the services and products of scrapbooking stores if the products and services are right. And I for one believe that they can be made right.
First, it starts with manufacturers who are willing to create new products for corporate accounts. These would be new styles of scrapbook products that will take current corporate activities from the walls of the company to the company scrapbooks. Leading manufacturers need to create clever products and templates that are professional and fit the needs of many different types of companies.
This is a new kind of business for retailers. The typical retail business is one filled with pulling customers in to the store via advertising, word of mouth or word of mouse. B2B is more of a “push” business model. It forces someone within the store to knock on doors and do direct mail promotions to drive the business through the door on person to person contacting.
In addition to the marketing and product differences there is also the difference in the average transaction of a corporate account and a single consumer shopping your store. In my former business, for example, I would have been happy to spend four or five thousand dollars a year to have my company’s history chronicled in a professional manner. And I believe there are many companies out there today who would do the same, if the option were there for them to consider.
I believe with the right manager heading up your B2B division and the right products from the manufacturers that the everyday scrapbooking retailer can double there sales.
What will it take to make this happen? It will take some innovators in both retailing and manufacturing to make it happen. Once that happens then industry leaders will jump on the bandwagon and a new category will be created for the industry.
Though the scrapbooking industry is young, every six months we need to breathe new life into it. We need new products, new services, and new ways to capture more market share. B2B is the new breath of life the industry needs at this time. The industry really is ready (after its slow-down in 2004) to build its second wind. The time has come for us to push harder and faster; to be smarter and bolder about products and services. I believe before the end of this year is out many in the industry will understand the need and will have started to implement a new idea who’s time has come… And that is what being retail SMART is all about.
|
|