COVID-19 has bought a lot of new words to our dictionary, one very popular phrase being used nowadays is “The New Normal”. This phrase itself means that you are slowly changing your lifestyle, day to day life, your working style, and adhering to the safety and precautionary norms suggested by the government.
The working pattern of almost all the government and private organizations has changed and so has the business styles. People are using new and creative techniques to abide by the government’s norms and to provide safety and security for their customers. The key to a successful business in these challenging times depends on the way a business converts its challenges into opportunities.
According to a business survey conducted by FICCI and Dhruva which saw the participation of almost 380 companies from across sectors, 70% of companies expected degrowth in their sales forecast for the fiscal year 2020-21. Most of the remaining 30% of companies that expected an increase in sales implemented digital technologically driven solutions to scale up their business. Beatroute’s Retailer App with WhatsApp being one such technologically driven solution.
Before these unfortunate circumstances of COVID-19, the sales used to flow through the traditional channel. The sales rep would visit physically to collect orders from the retailers. There would be a high frequency of visits right from order collection to promotion of new schemes.
While this model has always worked for brands since the dawn of retail, COVID-19 has created a big question mark for all these traditional methods of sales.
Due to government restrictions, it is very hard for the sales rep to interact with the retailers. Lockdown restrictions have halted the travel of sales reps, moreover, there are different government advisories for different areas which reduce the effective period during which a sales rep can visit a retailer. All of these are resulting in a lesser frequency of visits by the sales rep which in turn is affecting the overall Business.
The solutions like Retailer App with WhatsApp by BeatRoute can not only solve the woes of the frequency of the sales visits but it can also take care of ROIs of the business.
This Pandemic has left tough questions for your business to survive. As a business owner, people know that the norms of social distancing and safety, time restrictions on the opening of retail shops, unsettled supply chains, restrictions on travel and delivery, and unavailability of labor have immensely impacted business.
While Business owners might be still analyzing what has impacted sales the most, traditional channels of sales have failed miserably and new methodologies are being figured out by top management people to restore their business in these testing times.
While some businesses have accepted the new normal of business others are yet to accept the digital way out to beat the pandemic. Thus to boom the business in these testing times, business leaders are considering accepting the new normal. Let us see how our technology helps businesses scale up in this global pandemic.
Beatroute’s Retailer App with WhatsApp – The new normal for order collection
An increasing number of retailers use WhatsApp & are becoming more tech-savvy day by day. If you deploy WhatsApp driven Retailer App (Progressive mSite) to those 40 percent of retailers who actively want to use it, you can take orders through the app and send them the latest schemes, offers, product launches through the WhatsApp notifications.
This will reduce the impact of lockdown and travel restrictions as the frequency of sales visits can be reduced considerably and it will also give freedom to the retailer for placing orders without any hassle despite the time restrictions on the opening of the store.
The sales rep can also onboard new clients directly to WhatsApp enabled Retailer App onboarding, leading to more brand exposure and successful scaling of business in COVID times.
Not only our app for retailers is simple and user friendly, but customers also love our app for in-field robustness and platform maturity.
Some stand out features of the Retailer App with WhatsApp are listed below:
• The simple and easy one-time registration process– The registration process is simple and easy for the retailers, it is a one time process through OTP and assistance is provided if the retailer faces any difficulty.
• Brand’s official WhatsApp channel is used to initiate order placement– Simple and comfortable way for retailers to place orders, it makes business calculations simple with complete data management of the business.
• Schemes and promotions through chat interactions– With push notifications and schemes, sales leaders can increase brand consistency, also it can lead to higher conversion rates and more retailer engagement.
• Tracking of order to be delivered to the retailer– Efficient delivery tracking helps business owners to redesign the way of their regular processes, cut down on unwanted steps and enhance customer experience while enabling them to work smarter, faster, and with efficiency.
• Exciting loyalty programs for retailers– Loyalty programs enhance the retailer experience and build a personal relationship with them. It helps a business retain its existing retailers and thus the brand value also increases.
• Integrated monitoring on retailers by sales reps– This USP of BeatRoute’s Retailer App with WhatsApp can help sales leaders not only to adjust individual targets & SOPs but also to provide your sales reps & managers an easy way to monitor all the retailers in their territory, regardless of the medium deployed. For example, answers to questions like which retailers have ordered through the BeatRoute’s Retailer App, what is their order history, which retailers have ordered physically, which retailers are not placing orders & need to be visited to fix any problem, etc
The retailer app thus gives a hassle-free order placing experience to the retailer and on the other side, it boosts the sales of your company in these testing times. Beatroute’s Retailer App is a blessing in disguise for business owners to scale up your business and certainly, it will serve as a blessing in disguise in this COVID-19 Pandemic.
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Frequently Asked Questions:
What are the benefits of using a retailer app for FMCG companies?
In today’s competitive era, the smartphone is not just another piece of technology for retailers, it is a vital tool to engage Retailers with your brand, FMCG companies work on the distribution and expansion phenomenon, Retailer app with WhatsApp helps FMCG companies expand their reach and also increase their conversion rates.
Can the retailer app completely replace the traditional channel of distribution?
Although the Retailer App does not completely replace the traditional channels of order placement, surveys show that businesses with a combination of traditional and digital channels have more ROI.
How does Retailer App help in expanding Business?
Retailer App helps businesses to explore additional retailers and inviting them as well as existing retailers to the platform for easy distribution operations.
How does the Retailer App increase sales of Companies? If yes, how can the sales leaders identify it?
Yes, it increases the bandwidth of sales reps, and thus the sales also increase. Sales Leaders can easily identify it through our integrated monitoring system.
Let us consider an example, let’s say there’s a Sales Rep who earlier might have been serving 200 retailers in total but now with the aid of the Retailer App, he can serve 800 retailers in total. 100 retailers might still need regular visits, while for the rest 700, he has to visit as per need only, maybe once every one or two months. This increases the bandwidth of the sales rep and in turn, increases the sales of the company.
