Grassroots Outdoor Alliance, the national organization dedicated to the health and growth of specialty outdoor retail, is launching new tools and services to support growing momentum for the changeover to digital workbooks.
The new support for digital workbook adoption includes the launch of educational ‘how-to’ videos on the Grassroots Outdoor Alliance website (connect.grassrootsoutdoors.com/digital-workbook) as well as the expansion of learning sessions at the fall Grassroots Connect trade show November 1-5 in Denver, CO.
“Every step we take on this important industry initiative is a valuable one,” said Gabe Maier, vice president of Grassroots Outdoor Alliance. “While the pace of adoption has been steady and strong across our member retailers and vendors, we know that there’s still some work to be done to make sure that we’re all moving forward together.”
For Grassroots Outdoor Alliance, ‘digital workbooks’ simply refers to use of a digital PDF for a sales workbook instead of a traditional printed paper version. For retailers, ‘adoption’ means making it standard practice to use a digital tablet (iPad) to take notes and follow a vendor line showing. Numerous projected benefits of digital workbook use includes increased efficiency of meetings; increased efficiency of file storage; increased accuracy of workbook information and pricing; savings on trade show baggage fees; and a single basic platform for vendor presentations.
For vendors, the primary benefit of ‘digital workbook adoption’ is the increased efficiency of the sales planning process, including the ability to make changes up to the start of significant sales events such as the Connect buying show. Additionally, the reduction to paper printing, shipping and storage costs for vendors can free up significant funds to invest in product innovation and retailer support.
Grassroots Outdoor Alliance’s organizational commitment to digital workbooks began in winter 2019, inspired by a group of industry leading vendors that took bold internal steps to eliminate traditional paper workbooks. At that time, Grassroots Outdoor Alliance seized on the idea, openly advocating for group-wide adoption and launching a Technology Fund to offset the cost of member retailers acquiring needed digital tools such as iPads and Apple Pencils.
