Why personalized selling is the key to winning customers

“Know thy customer.” A fundamental rule of marketing, but not always an easy standard to meet. In an era increasingly focused on customer privacy, how can brands today know their wholesale customer at a level that will create a tangible impact? Let’s dive in.

What Does Personalization Mean Today?

It starts with knowing your customers. What are their values? Align with and communicate those shared values. Wholesale buyers are always looking for new and unique product offerings, such as BIPOC designers, sustainable materials, and women-led companies. Does your brand meet those values? And if so, how do you communicate it?

That’s the first step in personalization: understanding why customers buy from you. But don't stop there, dig deeper. Run reports to understand what retailers bought last year. Use that to create and share custom lists of suggested buys.  Ask your retailers for insights on performance like sell-through data. This will give you more insights into your customers’ thinking.

If necessary, go to stores. Speak directly with the store manager to find out what consumers are clamoring for. This way, you’re actively inviting your end customer into the wholesale buying process.

How Companies are Personalizing Well (Or Missing the Mark)

Designer Brands

Designer brands typically sell fewer units of higher price-point items. With fewer items to sell, they can create suggested buys and custom assortments for each of their retailer partners. These assortments can include exclusive items or new products being introduced. It’s hard to get more personalized than that. The advantage: hyperpersonalization.

Smaller Specialty Brands

Not every brand can personalize like the big designer brands. But there are options for specialty brands, including:

• Segmenting your contact database into customer groups. With NuORDER by Lightspeed, brands can group buyers together by attribute for segmented outreach. This makes it easier for sales reps to share relevant products and linesheets with the right customers. 
• Sending targeted email campaigns: Highlight best sellers, on-hand inventory, promotions, special collections, and more. Don't forget to track key metrics like open rates and orders submitted to see what’s working and inform your next sales push.
• Creating dedicated linesheets to highlight ATS inventory: For outdoor buyers, replenishment is a big sales point. Using a B2B eCommerce platform that supports ATS inventory lets them place orders immediately.
• Analyze sales performance: One of the keys to driving more sales from your buyers is understanding their flexibility in their open-to-buy and the types of product they are seeking for their end customer. Using NuORDER’s reporting tools, you can analyze each retailer’s order history and offer recommendations based on their buying habits and what’s selling this year.

Why does it matter? Good personalization will increase sell-through, increase order value, help you build long-term customer relationships, and enhance loyalty. And in this business, relationships are everything.

NuORDER Tools that Assist with Personalization

Let’s look at the tools on NuORDER by Lightspeed that specifically assist with your personalization efforts: 

• Whiteboarding: Here you can use the blank canvas to build custom assortments for your retailers based on their taste or order history, showcase complementary groupings within a line, and present how your products can be displayed in stores and online. 

• Custom Lists: This is another great option for creating personalized buying recommendations. You should pull in products you are recommending for your buyer based on their order history and which items you think will perform best in their stores. Organize your suggested items by style, buyer’s budget or delivery breakdowns to help retailers better understand why you are making these your recommendations.

• Suggested Orders (EZ Orders): You can turn any linesheet into a shoppable order form using our EZ Order feature. When buyers receive an EZ Order, they simply have to enter quantities and press “submit” to complete their order. Customers that send EZ Orders see 6x more buyer submitted orders on average.

Watch your regions, watch your customers, and you’ll come to learn what they’re after. Once you have the tools to personalize your linesheets and product offerings, you can create offers that appeal to them. Almost like you read their mind.