How to perfect hybrid B2B & wholesale commerce

In response to the changing retail and wholesale environments, Elastic Suite reached out to our most trusted partners to help find solutions for agile B2B selling. As a result of canceled trade shows and face-to-face sales meetings, brands and retailers are increasingly favoring digital sales presentations. Because the transactional pre-book business can be done online and before deadlines, in-person face-to-face meetings are reserved for important connection building. 

After connecting with clients across channels, Elastic created this guide to assist with transitioning to virtual line showings and sell-in meetings. This guide is intended as a resource to be shared across the community of manufacturers and wholesalers in all specialty retail markets. Our focus is to help sales reps strengthen their relationships with retailers by creating a more efficient and streamlined approach to wholesale commerce. 

Table of Contents: 

• • • Simplicity for Retailers 
    • Transitioning to Virtual Sell-In 
    • Digital Selling Solutions 
    • Next Steps 

Leveraging Existing B2B Technology 

The shift from transactional to transformational ecommerce lies at the heart of the relationship between brands and retailers. Brands that are fully utilizing B2B solutions are well-positioned to deepen their connections with their buyers. By using streamlined ecommerce processes, brands more efficiently take orders, and spend ever-important facetime connecting with, and learning about, their retail partners’ businesses. 

Preparing sales reps & retail buyers for the hybrid & virtual sell-in process

In 2020, virtual sales presentations and merchandising meetings were the only option. But today there are brands who continue to adopt remote practices and retailers who prefer them! Switching to a hybrid sell-in process takes time and practice on both parts. Communicate early and often about the transition and give your sales reps the tools necessary to keep building strong relationships with their retail partners.   

Work with sales reps to build excitement 

To generate excitement and enthusiasm around the hybrid selling model seek early input from your sales leadership and rep force. They know your retail partners the best and using their input on tactics will create a strong long-term sales strategy.  

Help your reps communicate to key accounts about the reasoning and value behind the hybrid approach. Educate them on the following best practices and digital solutions so the transition can be seamless and engaging.  

Show time!

During the meeting, make sure everyone is on camera and has a stable internet connection. Inside Elastic, share the Collection with the buyer so they can follow your presentation to add notes and star/rate. 

Added value with enhanced assets

Make sure to share your enhanced assets during the meeting too. This includes marketing and brand storytelling pieces or product detail data like 360° graphics, on-model videos, or detail/textural photos! 

Solutions for enhanced virtual selling

Even though we’re fighting Zoom fatigue daily, creating face time during the sell-in process is vital. Digital merchandising is a highly visual process and can’t be left to emails and printed catalogs. Reps can work hand-in-hand (or screen-on-screen!) with buyers to create assortments, build orders, and create whiteboards just as effectively as in person. Not the mention, the cost and natural resources saving that come with reduced travel.  

Preparation goes a long way when it comes to sales pitches and line showings. And as with traditional sales meetings, where roles and meeting flow are clearly defined in advance, make sure that all participants are comfortable working in the virtual environment. 

Dress as you would for an in-person meeting (but slippers are A okay!) 

Participants sharing need to have all screens ready & loaded

Video Meeting Solutions

Choosing a video conferencing solution is an individual choice and sticking with what your organization is already using might be your best bet. We’re all accustomed to video meetings, but if you don’t have a standardized solution for your company, below are some highlights.  

Based on feedback from the many major brands and Elastic’s own internal teams, Zoom and Microsoft Teams are the preferred solutions. But not matter your company’s choice, consistency is key to creating simplicity for retailers and further streamlining wholesale commerce. 

Enhanced Digital Assets

The success of digital selling is directly linked to the quality of digital assets. Brand storytelling and experiential product details are the most valuable asset when operating in a hybrid sales environment. By giving the buyer insight into the product, without it actually being in their hands, they are more confident in their purchase and are likely to buy deeper into the line. Read more in our white paper about the value enhanced assets bring to B2B ecommerce.

High Impact Imagery 

For products that are new for the season, expected to be best sellers, or offer unique features consider enhancing those digital assets with the following types of imagery.  

Product Line Videos 

Product line videos are used in both digital and in-person sales meetings. This is because they provide valuable insight into branding and positioning of the line that go beyond the products themselves. While expert video production can be costly, in-house production can be efficient and effective!  

You’ll get the best production quality if you film video and record audio separately. There are quite a few low cost, and easy-to-use editing tools available for bringing your pieces together. Keep videos short (under two minutes), be sure to highlight important features and always show off an on-model view! Videos are large files so consider an external hard-drive or cloud solution for safe keeping. Consider grouping videos by season and product category and store general marketing assets separately so they can be accessed for multiple use cases.