5 Ways To Use Delivery Data To Maximize SBT Sales

Information sharing is a vital component of successful Scan-Based Trading (SBT). In any SBT agreement, retailers share real-time daily point of sale scan data with their SBT suppliers. However, you may find that they aren’t sharing delivery data, since it’s not seen as necessary to do business or it's difficult to coordinate.  

This is a mistake. By marrying delivery data with POS data, you can streamline logistics, and ensure that you’re bringing in the right product, when it's needed, at the right time. Meanwhile, your SBT retailers can take a step back knowing that you’re set up for success.

Worried it’ll be too hard to coordinate or convince your retailer to provide delivery data? Online SBT systems like iControl provide secure, two-way data sharing to drive more effective collaboration.

Here are five ways you can use delivery data to optimize your SBT partnerships as a supplier:

1. Prepare for Holidays and Seasonal Trends

Use delivery data to keep top-selling items in stock during the holidays and seasonal sales. This will be especially relevant in a post pandemic world due to the supply chain shortages and heightened consumer demand.

To facilitate this, iControl provides visibility into perpetual inventory with warnings on when store inventory is running low.

2. Monitor Category Change and Customer Preferences

​​Is the product mix at stores changing? Monitor recent delivery data to see if new products are being delivered, and monitor whether the assortment reflects what customers want to buy. Tailoring the product mix to the store’s clientele is a great way to maximize sales. The market for Direct Store Delivery (DSD) goods is changing rapidly, and vendors and retailers need to remain responsive to customers to compete successfully with rivals.

SEE ALSO: Why Lacking Supply Chain Data Sync is No Longer Sustainable

3. Expand Your Customer Base 

The growing omnichannel retail space offers a great opportunity for vendors to reach younger consumers who want flexibility in their shopping experience. However, although giving consumers an online shopping experience is great, it only takes one or two negative experiences to push them to a competitor. 

For this reason, it’s important to make sure all items displayed on a website or mobile app are in stock. And having delivery data at your fingertips ensures you’re always in the know. 

Keep in mind that once an online consumer is happy with their experience, they lock-in to a specific service or retailer. Put simply, having an online SBT system that offers transparent POS and delivery data ensures that you have the data required to lead a successful online retail operation.

4. Maintain Planogram Compliance

Although SBT vendors generally stock and face their product, they may not always maintain the planogram that optimizes sales for all the stores or a particular category. 

Delivery data can help you assess how things look at the store level. It can be used to strategize future planogram compliance goals, to address any stores that routinely have issues. More specifically, delivery data shows vendors how ordering and stocking needs to be adjusted to improve performance.

5. Manage Supplier Pickups

Find out which items are being picked up from stores, as well as which ones are being delivered. Generally, items that sell poorly will be picked up from stores at higher rates than items that sell well. Another important consideration is that drivers might use some stores to “warehouse” product, moving these items to other stores later.

Keep an eye on pickups to make sure that deliveries are adjusted to each store’s needs. After all, picking up product not only incurs up-front costs, but also lost sales if the product was needed elsewhere.

SEE ALSO: iControl Publishes White Paper: "Collaborative Shrink Management"

Reach full potential with a 100% transparent, online SBT system

It’s no longer feasible to make important decisions about SBT categories without knowing what’s being delivered to your stores. Using a leading online SBT solution like iControl makes your decisions better informed and more effective. 

Contact us to learn how iControl can improve data sharing, and help you optimize your SBT trading partnership.