In the competitive landscape of active outdoor brands, finding innovative ways to expand reach and increase revenue is always top-of-mind. While the direct-to-consumer (DTC) route has clear perks—think direct feedback and juicy ROI data—the wholesale channel is stepping back into the spotlight, proving itself crucial for increasing sales and building brand visibility.
Taking a leaf from the playbook of giants like Nike, more brands are making strategic moves back into investing in wholesale, a clear nod to its importance in achieving a well-rounded market presence and revenue-boosting capabilities.
Amid this evolving scene, the power of retail sales enablement platforms starts to shine. These platforms act as the perfect mediator between your brand’s DTC efforts and wholesale ambitions, ensuring you get the best ROI of both worlds.
The Real Challenge: Mastering Wholesale
In a world dominated by online shopping, 85 percent of consumers still crave the hands-on experience of in-store shopping. But diving into wholesale can feel like navigating uncharted waters. How do you measure success where metrics are not as clear-cut as in DTC? Here is where retail sales enablement platforms like ENDVR come into play, simplifying the journey into wholesale with tools designed for brands to increase sales for their products in physical stores.
You may be wondering how brands optimize store performance to justify wholesale investment. Explore these three key strategies:
- Leverage Analytics:Understand the most effective way to deploy digital education, sales incentives, and retail operations with measurable ROI.
- Direct Interaction with Frontline Impact: Connect directly with frontline staff to gauge the impact, ensuring sales contests and digital education contribute to improved sales and sell-through. Nixon is in its third year using the ENDVR platform, successfully increasing sell-through across thousands of retail doors and increasing sales.
- Amplify In-Store Displays: With a $104 billion revenue loss tied to poorly executed displays, brands embracing retail automation technologies alleviate this loss and witness the positive impact of their retail investment.
Powering Your Frontline and Witnessing the ROI Magic
The real game-changer? Activating your frontline sales teams. This crucial engagement establishes emotional bonds with customers, which is essential for fostering brand loyalty, advocacy, and visibility in wholesale. But how are brands achieving this? Through platforms like ENDVR to deliver consistent messages, drive internal digital education campaigns, and empower teams with knowledge across wholesale channels and stores. When sales associates receive product education from brands through apps like ENDVR, their confidence in selling those brand products increases by 97 percent. This direct connection demonstrates a remarkable shift in ROI from 2.9:1 to an incredible 35:1 with ENDVR.
This kind of success story makes investing in wholesale, equipped with the right tools, not just a choice but a strategy for substantial growth.
Success in Action: Nike’s Leap
So why do brands like Nike commit more of their annual budget to wholesale? Nixon is an excellent example of a brand whose partnership with ENDVR is a testament to the platform’s ability to elevate wholesale performance. By leveraging digital sales incentives and digital education, Nixon has significantly increased its wholesale presence, setting a benchmark for what’s possible when you combine great products with cutting-edge sales enablement platforms.
Digital Transformation: Empowering Brands for Retail Success
For brands ready to enhance their wholesale strategy and see a real uptick in revenue, it’s time to explore what ENDVR can do for you. Join the ranks of other top brands like Vuori, Oakley, Burton, OTIS Eyewear, Nixon and more already using ENDVR and redefining their wholesale success.
Visit ENDVR.io to increase your brand’s sales in brick-and-mortar stores.
For more information about retail strategies in 2024, check out ENDVR’s Checklist, which is a guide for active and outdoor brands seeking success in today’s wholesale market.
