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How to Boost Sales in Retail Stores?

Covid 19 had changed the entire outlook of the retail stores but shifted a majority of things online. Every business wants people to visit their venture to get a closure look while purchasing stuff.

Everything from an appealing window display, a blackboard with a quote, or the aromatic feel can add value to tempt someone who passes by.

In this article, we have covered some tips and tricks for your reference so that you can scale up your retail sales with a rise in foot traffic to your store.

Does Visual Merchandising Help a Business?

Since many people are engaged in promoting their brands on social media platforms, they forget that they can achieve business success through visual merchandising.

The appealing displays of the products show transparent pricing to improve the overall customer experience. It ensures themed displays by providing an edge to the business in landing the customers offline.

Moreover, customizing the shelves is another great technique that excites the customers to a great extent by lighting up the visibility of the brand.

Thus, things should always be combined for better results and real-time monitoring through POS systems and AI techniques.

8 Ways to Increase Retail Sales

Below, we have figured out some of the best ways by which you can maintain your momentum as well as craft a better marketing strategy than you ever did before.

Advertise More

It is always a wise decision to increase your marketing efforts because there is increased competition in every field.

You can advertise more through local newspapers, banners, magazines, or social media to get traffic off the head.

Generate a Buzz

Whenever something significant happens with your business related to marketing or social aspects, send a press release to the media, which is a great way to grab immediate attention.

Furthermore, please don’t leave a chance to get into community and networking events as it offers promotional opportunities for generating a buzz for your business.

Examine your Pricing Strategy

Whenever you make a purchase, make sure that you are covering all the costs and also making a profit at the same time to maintain the stability & growth of the business.

Of course, you can not offer something worthless but remember to provide the right price your customers are willing to pay.

Be Social

The cheapest and the most effective platform to be socially active is social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook & LinkedIn, where you can interact with a larger audience.

However, if you are ready to spare some time, always attend commercial events and programs for better exposure and personal touch with people.

Personalize

Your customers will be more interested in the stuff if they find it relevant. Not just products, but they can also be interested in having offers and coupons for a continuous store visit.

You can keep keen attention to customer action with the help of data that you can get about them. This way, you can optimize products to make them feel special.

Give Freebies

Receiving something for free as a sample is one of the best feelings for a customer, even if it is something the least expensive in your store.

So, offer your customers a small freebie such as a cream sachet or a nail polish to increase their chances of visiting your store.

Have Strong Visuals

Strong visuals add depth to the retail store by making the customers overwhelmed. Moreover, it initiates action and allows the users to try them out.

But, it would help if you kept things neat because an organized space helps find things faster.

Have a Loyalty Program

A retailer can get a significant amount of information regarding customers’ preferences, needs, and behavior through loyalty programs.

In the loyalty program, you can further offer a small gift or reward to the customer for being a part of the loyalty program to build trust and relationships.

The Bottom Line

Whatever the case, always remember that the customer is the heart of your business, and you need something better to get engaged with them.

We hope that these points will be a handful of ideas that will work the best for your marketing strategies and will provide you with fruitful results.

How to Optimize Your Direct to Store Delivery Operations With Van Sales Automation?

Shipping good takes time, which means delivering directly to locations is common among modern e-retailers.

When looking at the bigger picture, getting your products to your customer faster means increased customer satisfaction, loyalty, and ultimately more sales.

Van sales automation can alleviate a lot of the headaches that come with managing deliveries, managing delivery routes, monitoring drivers, and generating reports.

This blog lets you see some tips on optimizing your direct-to-store delivery operations with van sales automation.

What Is Direct-to-Store Delivery?

Direct-to-store delivery (DSD) is a model that allows the manufacturers of a product to deliver it straight to the point of sale, i.e., the stores, skipping the wholesale process.

A study published by the Grocery Manufacturer’s Association in 2008 stated that although only 24 percent of in-store merchandise were DSDs, this same 24 percent delivered 52 percent of total profits.

How Is DSD Delivery Different From Distributor-led Delivery?

Unlike distributor-led delivery, direct-to-store delivery is not just about delivering products to stores. It’s more than that.

A DSD delivery process is an end-to-end solution for FMCG companies with a massive network of distributors, wholesalers, retailers, and dealers.

It helps streamline the entire sales cycle and optimize supply chain management from product distribution to inventory and order processing.

The primary difference between distributor-led delivery and direct-to-store delivery is that in the latter model, the FMCG companies sell their products directly to the retailers through their own sales force instead of distributors.

Benefits Of Implementing A Direct Store Delivery Model

The advantages of D2S are apparent. Here are some of the most important:

1. Enables Quick Time To Market

DSD is an efficient way to get products from the manufacturer or supplier onto retail shelves as quickly as possible.

In many cases, manufacturers can fulfill orders and send them directly to the retailer’s distribution center within one day.

Almost 50% of consumers say that digital retailers meet their delivery speed expectations nearly half the time.

2. Higher Gross Margin Percentages

Since products are going directly from the point of origin to their final destination, a direct store delivery model helps reduce overhead costs and avoid extra expenses, such as storage fees.

3. More Personalized Service

You can build strong relationships with retailers with direct store delivery while offering more personalized service and sales support.

Since you’re shipping your products directly to retailers’ doors, you can customize each order based on their needs, preferences, and specifications.

4. Reduces Inventory 

The DSD model allows retailers to manage their inventory better. With this model, they can regularly receive new product shipments based on actual demand from customers.

It allows retailers to stock up on necessary items at optimal levels without worrying about storage costs or excess inventory that may not sell well.

Tips To Optimize Your Direct-Store Delivery Operations With Van Sales Automation

1. Manage Your Complex Supply Chain

Van sales software can simplify your complex supply chain. You can customize the software according to your business needs and access all data from one place.

When you have a centralized database, you will have better control over your business and make better decisions for the future.

2. Gain Real-time Visibility

Automated systems give you real-time insights into all aspects of your business, including customer accounts and inventory levels.

You will be able to track orders in real-time, leading to faster deliveries and increased customer satisfaction. Also, you can quickly identify any problems before they escalate further.

3. Boost Productivity And Efficiency

When you automate repetitive tasks such as managing inventory, calculating tax, processing orders, etc., all employees will be more productive and efficient in their jobs.

It will also free up valuable time that they can spend on more productive tasks such as marketing or developing new products or services for the company.

4. Streamline Your Direct Store Delivery Operations

A big part of van sales automation is streamlining the order processing process by automating it. When customers place an order, they can expect it to be delivered quickly and efficiently.

Orders are sent directly to the warehouse, generating picking lists and processing charges with minimal manual intervention or errors.

Summing Up

The bottom line is that the Van Sales Application can help streamline and improve your direct-to-store delivery operations. We recommend you try it out and see how much time, money, and stress you will save.

How To Choose The Right Sales Automation Software For Business Growth?

Sales automation is the tool used for streamlining and optimizing the sales process.

It helps track the progress of leads at each stage in their buyer journey, automates communication across the organization, and encourages collaboration between sales and marketing.

In this post, we’ll cover the essential criteria you need to look for in sales automation software and how to choose the best for your business goals.

How Does Sales Automation Software Help?

Sales automation software allows you to automate repetitive manual tasks like sending emails and making phone calls. It can dramatically increase the productivity of your sales team and reduce the amount of time spent on menial tasks that don’t directly contribute to growth.

More than 60 percent of businesses using automation exceeded their revenue targets. With that in mind, here are some of the factors you should consider when choosing your sales automation platform.

8 Factors To Consider When Choosing The Right Sales Automation Software

1. Automate And Personalize Communication

According to McKinsey, nearly a third of sales-related tasks can be automated. You can set up a sales automation tool to send automated emails and SMS to your customers.

It is a great way to start a conversation, but it will not be effective unless you personalize the message based on what you know about the customer.

It can include information such as their name, any previous interactions they’ve had with your company, or if they have an upcoming birthday.

2. Ease Of Use

A sales automation program should be as user-friendly as possible. The more buttons and controls it has, the more complicated it will be to use.

Even if you are an experienced web developer, it’s best to stick with tools that have simple drag-and-drop functionality or templates that allow you to create your landing pages without too much effort.

3. Pipeline Management

The average B2B marketer has found that sales automation contributes 10% to their sales pipeline. So, you have to make sure that the sales automation software you choose has a vital pipeline management feature.

The pipeline management feature allows you to keep track of all your leads from the moment they enter your system to become a closed deal.

It would help to see where you’re in the pipeline, which stage of the sales process, and what is required to move to the next step.

4. Lead Management

Leads are the lifeblood of any business, big or small. So how you manage them is vital. Sales automation tools can make this process simple and easier to automate.

They can help you organize contact details, automatically capture visitor activity on your website, record phone conversations, send email campaigns, etc. The right tool will help your team close more leads by streamlining these processes and saving time on manual data entry.

5. Sales Reporting And Analytics

Many sales software platforms come with robust reporting and analytics capabilities. These tools allow you to capture data from all aspects of your business, including leads, pipelines, contacts, accounts, and more.

With this data, you can create custom reports to gain insights into your sales process, identifying improvement opportunities.

6. Customer Support

If you encounter any issues, your sales automation software should have customer support 24/7, 365 days a year. It’s also helpful if they have a live chat or phone support where someone can walk you through problems as they come up instead of waiting.

7. Integration With Other Software Tools

Choosing software that works well with third-party tools such as email marketing, social media marketing, and website analytics tools is good. Some of the most popular integrations include Salesforce, MailChimp, and QuickBooks.

8. Pricing

When selecting a solution, find out what pricing packages they offer.

  • Do they have a free trial or free version?
  • How much does their monthly or annual subscription cost?
  • Is there a limit on how many users can access the system?

Ensure that the software you choose answers all of these questions.

To Wrap Up Things

It’s important to note that the ultimate goal is to improve sales no matter which solution you choose. The best sales automation software should be able to increase your sales and close deals that you have never closed before.

However, not all products are built the same. These are a few things you can look for to narrow down the list of options.

What Is Field Force Management Software And Why Does It Matter?

In the coming years, artificial intelligence will revolutionize the entire sector. Despite the involvement of machine learning and more, human essence is critical too. The field force management software can be of great help.

The field force management software plays a vital role in getting customer satisfaction. These solutions are helping to upgrade the field sales order app.

Most businesses across the world are relying on on-field sales mobile apps. It is expected that the FMCG field sales app will become predominant in the coming times. Besides, the global FMCG market is expected to reach up to $15,361.8 billion by 2025.

What Is Field Force Management?

Workforce management is highly crucial to boosting productivity. Employee management is an essential part of workforce management. A field force management software will help to manage the employees.

With the help of field sales applications, employees can check attendance, task allotment, and performance and will also help to track employee performance. Moreover, field executives could work efficiently with a mobile field sales app and boost performance.

The involvement of field sales mobile apps in the business will help avoid errors or mismanagement. This will also play an essential role in preventing any miscommunication.

What Is The Role Of Field Force Management Software?

Many businesses often commit the mistake of not developing an FMCG field force sales app. Even 80% of managers from Fortune 500 companies suggest that robust field force management software can ensure business success.

Having a field sales application for business can help in task allocation, attendance management, and performance evaluation. Using field force management software can prove to be highly beneficial. However, it is necessary to understand which field sales mobile app will be the most efficient.

Benefits Of FMCG Field Sales App

Implementing a mobile field sales tracking app can bring significant benefits to the business. Not only is it essential for achieving short-term goals, but long-term goals too. With the help of field sales applications, companies can guide their field sales representatives on how to be productive and optimize the business.

Here are some of the benefits of having field force management software:

1. Know Your Leads

Businesses fail because they don’t know the leads. With the help of field force automation software, you can track the behavior of your lead. You can track the user’s activity. It will also help you determine which websites your customers are visiting and what they are most interested in.

When you understand your customer behavior, you can pitch similar services to the prospects. When you approach the customer with what they want, you will likely receive a positive response for your business.

2. Geo-Live Tracking

One of the most prominent benefits of field sales application is that it helps geo-live tracking. When you have the app, you can track what your team is doing without worrying about anything. With remote tracking, businesses can check how their field sales representatives work.

With geo-live tracking, the field sales mobile app often helps track the distance and places traveled and the people they are meeting. The app provides the benefit of real-time tracking, which helps get a bird’s-eye view of the employee’s performance. You can get regular updates on how your employee performs and eventually bring business changes accordingly.

Furthermore, the field sales application will also help set constant reminders about follow-ups and sales meetings. A strong field force management software will help businesses across different levels. You can also track the cross-country location. If there are any important meetings, you can get a reminder, usually thirty minutes before it. This helps you stay prepared for the meeting.

3. Enable The Field Sales Representatives To Working Offline

Field sales representatives may often work in areas with no internet connection. Therefore, it is prevalent for businesses to become worried about how they work.

Tracking and performing sales activity is extremely crucial. Mostly, field force management software helps regularize a CRM that eventually helps sync the data. As a result, the field sales representatives can also work offline with real-time data availability.

4. Work Actively

One of the most efficient benefits of mobile field sales apps is that they can track the business. With the help of field force management software, you can always work on the go.

You can sync your mobile app with the emails, calls, and texts in the mobile phone app. You can research the particular software to determine if the field sales order app is compliant with the device.

5. Know Where Your Sales Representatives Are

With the help of an efficient app, FMCG companies can now track where the representative is. One of the most prominent benefits is that it helps optimize location mapping. If you are in a particular location, you can have the software and provide recommendations accordingly.

This will also help to reduce travel times. Furthermore, the field sales order app will notify you if a particular customer cancels the order. With the help of the app, you can track your representatives and customers. If any critical meeting is scheduled between customer and representative and gets canceled, it can be scheduled with another sales representative around the same location.

6. Better Integration

Integration is exceptionally crucial for field sales order apps. It will allow proper integration. An efficient enterprise resource planning software can help to streamline the business. It becomes vital for business intelligence integration as well. As a result, you can optimize the work routine and boost employees’ productivity.

The customer sales representatives offer benefits of the entire service. It can help to track customer calls and get accurate answers.

Final Words

Field force management is changing. With real-time data, it is being integrated across wearable technology and IoT. Furthermore, field sales management app can help in increasing productivity and customer service. Businesses must train individuals to get maximum results.

What Are The Benefits Of Mobile Field Sales Application For FMCG Companies?

The FMCG sector in India is significantly growing. It is expected that by 2026, the market capital of FMCG will be around $220 million. Furthermore, reports by Nielsen show that the Indian FMCG sector has grown significantly from the first quarter of January to March.

Over the years, the face of sales has changed significantly. Companies send their field sales agents to connect with their clients, but they have to keep a manual record of everything. With the coming in of mobile field sales apps, things have changed.

How Is The Mobile Field Sales App Helping?

The evolution in SFA technology has brought about significant improvements in the mobile field sales app. Companies are now using these field sales mobile apps to execute all major marketing and on-field operations.

The main purpose of the mobile field sales application is to ensure the organization of all details from the ground level. Today, businesses need real results, and a reliable mobile field sales app offers them.

The field force management software revolutionizes the industry as it digitizes and automates the workflow. Therefore, the sales representative can connect real-time and manage every transaction from their phones during the field visit b

Benefits Of FMCG Field Sales App

Having a field sales app for the FMCG business can be extremely helpful as it helps to streamline the entire business activity. Some of the common benefits of having an FMCG field sales app include the following:

1. Aligned Ground Execution

Failing to align the execution process is one of the main reasons many businesses fail to achieve their goals. Having a mobile field sales app helps monitor and track the company’s sales. Furthermore, it also helps to track the on-field activities.

When companies have real-time data of on-field activity, they can align their strategies better. Having an efficient mobile field sales app for the business is highly beneficial. Nonetheless, it is necessary to determine that the FMCG field sales app aligns with business goals. It helps to increase revenue by completing the small targets.

2. Solves Problems With AI Assistance

Having a field sales order app has become extremely crucial for business. One of the main purposes of the system is to generate numerous charts and reports. While this may seem easy, doing it manually can be time-consuming.

The new-age field sales order app can track all the details, thereby assisting the GTM strategy. With the help of these apps, the companies can be aware of the potential problems or shortcomings they face in field execution. Depending on their reports, the sales manager can act accordingly to solve the problem.

3. Better Customer Relationship Management

Irrespective of the field you’re operating in, customer relationship management is extremely crucial, especially for business growth. The field sales application helps you understand customer behavior.

Times are changing, and people don’t want to buy any product randomly. Before purchasing any product, they want to know how the particular purchase will add value. Apart from the quality of products, the customers also want quality service.

Opting or developing customer relationship management can often turn out to be a gigantic task. However, the field force automation software is helping to overcome it by direct integration with the CRM. You can easily get new customers with proper relationship management via different channels such as B2B, HoReCa, and more.

The mobile field sales app helps streamline the entire business process. It also aids lead management and customer relationship management. When you interact with your customers, you get to know them. Hence, this is one of the best ways to win your customer’s trust.

4. Improvement In Sales Behavior

It is how you approach your customers that decides whether you win over them or not. The field sales mobile app plays a vital role in improving sales behavior. All these new apps follow the latest technologies and ways to improve behavior.

One of the most prominent ways these field sales order apps help to improve behavior is gamification. When the sales representative behaves efficiently, they are awarded points and medals. This practice is extremely crucial as the companies get to analyze the employee’s behavior. It also helps to understand where the employee lacks and what steps can be given to improve it.

5. Digitization Of Sales

One of the significant benefits of the field sales order app is that it helps automate everything. Data entry, physical attendance, and all such things are no longer needed. As long as you have an app, things can work efficiently.

The sales management software has helped automate and digitize the entire sector. Moreover, it reduces the need for manual interference in tasks. The FMCG companies can benefit the most from it to reach a wider target audience. Besides, retailers, sales representatives, and distributors can collaborate in real-time to automate the entire business activity.

6. Better Planning And Execution

Following up is one of the most monotonous and hectic tasks. It is crucial to keep a tab on the clients to ensure reliability. What if they aren’t? It’s a total waste of time. However, with the help of mobile field sales apps, everything can be aligned as per the client’s demands. The sales representative will need to connect with the customer, and the app will manage the other things. This will help in an increase in revenue generation too.

7. Increase In Revenue

The mobile field sales app helps to digitize the entire order management system. This helps increase the order size, which eventually leads to an increase in revenue. Furthermore, it also plays a vital role in cross-selling and upselling which proves to be efficient, especially when you have promotional and trade offers.

Summing Up

It is extremely crucial to have a reliable and efficient mobile field sales application. There are too many of them available in the market, which is why you must research to understand what you need. It will help to promote growth and meet business goals. This will help to overcome any challenges, especially in the FMCG market.

A Guide to Choosing the Best Distributor Management System for the FMCG Companies

Distributor management refers to the successful movement of goods from producing to selling. It is like an umbrella term that consists of various activities such as warehouse management, inventory management, logistics management, and supplier-vendor relationship management.

There have been significant changes in the supply chain industry. According to Forbes, around 65% of executives in the logistics, supply chain, and transportation sectors believe that the industry has noticed massive changes in recent times. However, it is also suffering from slight disruption. Many businesses are switching to a distributor management system to automate the business process.

What Is Distributor Management?

As suggested earlier, distributor management refers to the process of managing a product from producing it to delivering it. With the help of distributor management software, you can check everything you’re offering to the customer.

Within the distributor management system, you will track various activities. In some instances, distributor management systems can also help with blockchain.

Importance Of Distributor Software For FMCG

Consumer goods companies must analyze the market expansion rate and develop strategic management supply chains, and this helps them establish long-term relationships with distributors. Choosing the right distributor software for FMCG can play an essential role in adding value to your business.

Furthermore, the importance of FMCG distribution channel management system software includes the following:

1. Reducing Pilferage

When companies invest in a good distributor management system, they contribute towards lowering the pilferage cost for business. Furthermore, it also reduces the overall capital cost for overstocking.

2. Integration Of Business Operations

Businesses should focus on integrating business operations at a large scale. The distributor management system helps to offer a centralized platform of communication for the company and distributors. Therefore, it can be said that the software helps to fix the communication gap and integrate it all within a single platform.

3. Better Visibility Of Secondary Sales

When you analyze the secondary sales, you can focus on sales execution. With better visibility of secondary sales, businesses can focus on including different strategies that will help to improve their trade scheme.

4. Better Distributor Experience

The main aim of distributor management software is to offer an organized management system. It also helps to provide automated claims with proper reward management. A proper distributor experience promises long-term relationships.

5. Utilization Of Offers And Schemes

When you have secondary sales visibility, you can utilize the offers and schemes that distributors usually give. With real-time data integration, companies can use these schemes most effectively.

How To Choose The Distributor Management Application?

A distributor software will play an essential role in integrating the business. According to ISM, in 2019, around 39% of companies had to suffer a ‘war room’ situation because of disruptions in the supply chain market.

The right distributor software for FMCG can help bring a significant difference in the business, and it will help you analyze how to manage the distributor nuances. If you plan to use distributor management software, you need to consider different factors while choosing it.

Some of the most critical factors that can help you choose the best distributor management software include:

1. Understand The Retail And Distributor Landscape

Before choosing software, you need to know what your retail and distributor landscape looks like. The distributor management software that you choose should solve problems within the retail visibility. Furthermore, the software should also share compatibility with your distributor management.

You need to check if you need any additional services such as cloud integration and more. If you need such services, you need to choose software that caters to those needs.

2. Does It Solve The Adoption Issues Within Your Business?

Many businesses are likely to face adoption problems. If the software doesn’t ease the lack of adoption problems, you shouldn’t use it. Adoption issues include catering to the demand of multiple brands.

Whenever you choose a distributor management system, you need to analyze if it solves the major issues. The system you choose should cater to your current distributor landscape, which helps to ensure that you will get long-term benefits of accessing benefits for your business.

3. Ease Of Use

Is the platform easy to use? Not only should a distributor management system be compatible, but it should also be easy to use. This will help determine that everyone within the business ecosystem can use the platform properly.

You should check if it can be easily integrated into your system or not. This will help you understand if you are using it correctly.

4. Get Free Demos

Many distributor management software providers offer free demos. With the help of demos, you will be able to check if the particular software meets your brand requirements or not. Yes, you should refrain from purchasing any software that isn’t compatible with your system.

Apart from demos, you should also check the reviews. Unless you have positive reviews about the platform, do not purchase it.

5. Implementation Timeline

How long does it take to implement the software? Implementation has always been one of the tough challenges. You need to ensure that the software doesn’t take a lot of time to implement and can be easily used by the employees and teammates.

Whenever choosing software for your business, you need to identify your goals. Furthermore, you can track data across the platform and create a realistic timeline to receive better results. You need to know what you’re getting into to have the best results.

Final Words

The B2B businesses are moving in a positive direction. You need to identify the distributor management system that will fit the requirements. You should also consider choosing a plan that will suit your needs and add value to the organization.

You can compare the different options and choose one that fits your needs the most. Research is crucial to ensure that there is no risk of drawbacks, and the system should bring about creative and budget-friendly results. However, it is advisable to choose software that will bring maximum benefits to your business and help you overcome the challenges.

How To Improve FMCG Sales During Covid?

After the pandemic, sales numbers in the FMCG sector are usually a cause of concern for most companies. It is a time when people are not sure if they need to continue buying the product, and hence sales drop.

According to Insight Market, April sales in the FMCG segment fell 34%. After experiencing single-digit growth in the first quarter, companies have found ways to combat this dip in FMCG sales software by introducing discounts on their products or even a buy one get one free offer.

So this blog comes with several ideas to improve FMCG sales.

Let’s get started!

FMCG During The COVID World

In the years before the pandemic, the consumer goods industry was booming and undergoing significant changes. Since mid-2018, the industry has slowed, with a steady decline in growth by January/February 2020, with teen growth rates nearly halving.

FMCG players have attempted to compete by cutting prices and increasing consumer offerings in this scenario. The FMCG sector in India has recently increased faster than its urban counterparts, FMCG products are about half of the total rural spending.

With about 12% of the world’s population, which live in villages in India, the Indian national FMCG market is the driving force for the entire industry. FMCG companies plan to develop their national affiliates by introducing small packages for goods that are likely to fit people’s incomes in India’s countryside.

This is an excellent example of how companies constantly develop new growth strategies to increase FMCG sales.

Ideas To Improve FMCG Sales During COVID

1. Create A New Sales Strategy

The world of FMCG sales is constantly changing, and it takes a keen eye to stay relevant. By using the proper marketing techniques, you can get customers to notice your brand more often, which leads to higher sales.

Salespeople must be able to analyze the needs of their clients and try to anticipate their future needs. They must also know how to create long-term strategies to meet those needs.

This may involve working with different departments in the company and with external partners to serve customers better. Then, the sales department collaborates closely with marketing, operations, public relations to achieve their sales goals with sales force automation FMCG.

Another example is that using social media is one of the best ways to update your sales plan. Social media is an excellent tool for FMCG brands because it helps marketers connect with their target audience in an authentic way that’s not too pushy or sales-focused.

2. Improve Communication With Retailers

Communication is the key to any successful business, especially in the FMCG sector during covid. Since communication between two parties is an interactive process, it is crucial that each party involved in a transaction can correctly convey their requirements and expectations.

Communication between FMCG brands and retailers is an essential part of increasing sales. Retailers are responsible for stocking and selling products and providing in-store services to customers.

The relationship is concurrently beneficial for both parties: FMCG brands provide retailers with products, which they can sell at a profit. In return, retailers offer brands the exposure from being present in their stores.

With the FMCG sales app, brands can build positive relationships with their retailers because communication between the two parties can affect sales, distribution, and overall brand marketing. Bad communication can result in negative consequences.

Nowadays, using digital media to stay in touch with retailers has become the “new normal.” Not only is it easy and convenient to communicate, but it also helps build business loyalty and send great offers to existing customers.

3. Efficient Inventory Management

The inventory management of an FMCG Product is a highly complex process. Many factors affect the sales and the demand for the products.

Therefore, it has to be appropriately managed with specific steps to be followed with FMCG sales force automation software, which will help allocate the resources and manage the inventory efficiently.

  • The first step is to examine and assess the effect of various factors on sales like advertising, weather conditions, seasons, competitive activities, and many more.
  • The second step is to plan and implement while keeping in mind the sales forecasted and desired levels of stocks.
  • The third step is to make sure you’re always stocking up on the best-selling products. Be aware of how your sales are doing. The moment you notice a dip in sales, restock your shelves with more of those items.

4. Advanced Visual Merchandising Audits

In the past three years, visual merchandising has become one of the most powerful tools to increase sales of FMCG products.

Visual merchandising audits are essential for retailers and brand owners to understand how customers perceive their products, which is crucial in optimizing their products’ positioning, display, and overall marketing mix.

Retailers can use visual merchandising audits to improve the effectiveness of their entire marketing mix. For example, to enable successful visual merchandising audits, careful planning is required to ensure that all the information needed is collected.

So, the visual merchandising audit summarises the shop layout and merchandising strategy to identify any opportunity to improve sales.

5. Make the Field Force Process More Automated

COVID-related restrictions make it difficult for companies to ensure that front-line workers meet compliance and performance standards.

At the same time, manually collecting and analyzing this data and applying different policies to improve standards can be a daunting process for businesses.

So, simply automating the process of collecting sales or service information onsite in real-time using communication technology (usually a handheld computer, wireless device, or mobile phone) with an FMCG field sales app can improve productivity.

To Wrap Up Things

Some marketers are still not focusing on the digital aspect of the FMCG markets. This is a huge mistake, as digital provides much more information about what customers want, and it helps to increase sales.

This article will provide you with five steps to improve your FMCG sales during Covid. As a business owner, you can rest assured of the challenges in improving your business due to this deadly pandemic with these simple steps.

Why Should You Start Using Order Management Software Today?

The appropriate order management software can play an essential role in increasing the mobility and efficiency of the business. According to data, in the past five years, the demand for an order management solution has significantly increased, nearly double it.

Thanks to the modern eCommerce landscape, traditional manual processes are changing. While initially shipping an order would take more than five to six days, it’s being shipped in just two days because of automation. With the changing times, businesses should adapt to the changing technology. Modern technology such as the order management system can help streamline the process. According to Salesforce, due to integration, there has been a 44% increase in B2B buyers globally in 2020 alone.

What Is Order Management Software?

The primary role of order management applications is to streamline the business process to meet customers’ demands. It follows a very organized manner to ensure the smooth functioning of the business.

The order management solutions ensure a faster delivery to the customers. It manages your payment history, orders, inventory, and more. With the help of real-time data tracking, you will be able to manage your entire team, and you will understand if you and your team are on the same page.

As a result, it will help you manage your sales from start to end.

Benefits Of Order Management Solutions

If you haven’t yet implemented an order management system in your business, you should consider doing so. It streamlines your business, but it also helps to provide a great customer experience.

Here are some of the common benefits of including order management solutions for your business:

1. Numerous Product Options And Alternatives

What would you do when you’re looking for a product and it runs out of stock? You will often search for an alternative. While manually following the process can be time-consuming, the software can ease it. The software will play an important role in increasing sales by providing alternative suggestions to your employees.

Furthermore, the order management software will also provide add-on options, ensuring you don’t have to keep the customer waiting.

2. Inventory Management

The eCommerce industry has often struggled with inventory management. If your business runs out of inventory, you will not manage the orders. This will eventually bring about customer dissatisfaction.

The order management software will play an important role in tracking the inventory. Businesses of all sizes should consider using the software. However, reports suggest that only 43% of small businesses track their inventory using the software.

Businesses that sell fast-selling goods will need to keep their inventory stocked. While it will be difficult to keep a track record of it manually, the order management application can help to optimize the process. It will offer constant notifications about the status.

Furthermore, if there are slow-moving products, the software will allow you to track the sales monthly or weekly. It will also help you manage the inventory pool management across the distribution centers and stores.

3. Sales Tax Automation

Tax calculation can be time-consuming and tricky. Therefore, you must have software that performs all these complex tasks for you.

While you focus on other aspects for improving your business, you can rely on the system to do the tax calculations. Furthermore, many order management applications also come with an optional geolocation integration that helps manage the customer tax rates and integrates the sales process.

4. Credit Management

You can opt for integrating your order management software with accounting. Therefore, your entire business team can collaborate and maintain real-time sales and balances.

The account integration will provide a smooth process for the customer as it helps them view the invoices. Furthermore, it will also track which customer has exceeded the credit limit.

As it helps streamline your business activity, you can enhance customer relationships. Businesses can keep their customers from delaying payments and help those with poor credit.

5. Better Control On Data

Data control is significant for the smooth functioning of businesses. When your company has a massive influx of data, it is prevalent for you to make mistakes.

The order management application helps to reduce the chances of mistakes by offering complete control of data. It will integrate the entire process from order generation to delivery. Since it integrates everything into one place, there will be fewer mistakes.

Furthermore, businesses will not have to wait for data to be calculated. Since everything will be stored and integrated into one place, you will have the flexibility to review and amend it. As a result, you will have complete control over the data.  According to Bringg, around 57% of customers tend to stay loyal to businesses if they receive same-day delivery.

6. Automated Payment Processing

Businesses can’t automate the entire business process because it is time-consuming. However, the right order management software can play an important role in automating the whole business payment process.

It will record when the order was placed, when it was shipped, and the progress in the schedule. This will prevent your employees from engaging in tedious tasks. The software will automatically generate the invoice and send it to the customer.

With the help of software, businesses and customers will stay on the same page.

7. Returns And Exchanges

It is common for you to receive return and exchange requests in an eCommerce business. This may mostly be because of shipping the wrong item, product breaking during the delivery, late delivery, and more. Businesses try their best to reduce the risk of returns and exchanges.

Every eCommerce business should provide good after-sales support, which helps them understand customer feedback. While it was efficient for managing the system manually, now you can focus on integrating the entire process.

With the help of an order management application, your business can provide exceptional after-sales support. You can provide the flexibility to customers to use the software to initiate the returns by themselves. Furthermore, it will also help you track the refunds of the orders.

Final Words

An order management software can help conduct all the crucial tasks of your business. It will manage the returns and refunds across different channels. This will help ensure that you can offer a better refund and return services.

You can add significant value to your business with order management software. Having an order management system integrated into your business will help to increase your sales and provide a delightful experience to the customers. Therefore, if you haven’t got the order management software yet, you should consider getting it.

What Are The Benefits of Sales Force Automation Software For The Spices Industry?

Sales force automation software (SFA) is an enterprise resource planning system. It can seamlessly integrate sales, inventory, and customer management activities.

The global sales force automation software market is projected to reach $7.773 billion by 2023 and is growing at a CAGR of 10.6% between 2017 and 2023. The software also helps streamline operations and manage all the business processes in one place.

This helps to improve productivity, reduce costs, increase profits and enhance worker satisfaction through better communication and collaboration.

SFA can also be used with CRMs that help businesses manage their sales activity, including lead generation, campaign management, and contact management. So this explains the benefits of using sales force automation software for the spices industry.

8 Benefits of Sales Force Automation Software

1. Lowers The Cost Of Running A Sales Operation

The primary purpose of using a sales force automation application is to assist salespeople with their day-to-day tasks, increase productivity and enhance collaboration among team members. In addition, it allows you to monitor customer activity in real-time without switching between multiple applications.

All these features make sales force automation software a handy tool to reduce the cost of running sales operations. It can do this by reducing the time spent on repetitive tasks, improving efficiency and accuracy, and making it easier to access information.

With sales force automation software, employees can spend more time doing what they do best. Automation enables them to spend more time on the phone with customers, building relationships and closing deals, instead of spending hours on tedious paperwork.

2. Boost The Productivity Of Sales Representatives

When sales reps spend less time on administrative tasks, they can devote more time to selling. This increases the number of deals closed, the amount of revenue, and the customer lifetime value.

Companies that actively manage leads using sales force software experience an average of 61% more revenue than companies without such a system. The real competitive advantage comes when individual reps are freed from low-value tasks and empowered with business insight to become more effective.

By doing so, sales representatives can focus on the customer, improving their productivity and increasing customer satisfaction.

3. Minimize Manpower Wastage

The primary purpose of any business is to make a profit. So, it is crucial to minimize workforce wastage and maximize your team’s productivity.

From a business perspective, sales force automation application helps in reducing workforce wastage by reducing the number of employees required to handle a single sales process and increasing productivity and efficiency. Sales force automation software can also automate repetitive tasks with the help of intelligent workflows.

Moreover, sales force automation software has increased sales productivity by 14.5% and reduced overheads by 12.2%. The best thing about sales force automation tools is they are equally effective for small and large businesses.

4. Collect Intelligent Insights

Sales force automation software is the ultimate tool for companies to grow their business and expand their reach. You can collect intelligent insights from your data and make real-time decisions based on these insights to boost sales.

SFA is a great way to gather customer intelligence. It provides an in-depth analysis of the customer behavior, which will be helpful to know what they want and what they don’t want.

SFA also helps you track all of your leads, opportunities, and accounts. It has built-in tools to capture data and make it available to you at all times.

5. Increase Sales

Sales force automation allows companies to keep track of all of their leads and measure their sales process efficiency and effectiveness.

Companies can ensure that leads are being followed up appropriately and maximize sales opportunities by automating their sales processes. Sales force automation application makes it easy for companies to segment leads and track which ones are at risk of disengagement.

From lead to cash automation, sales are expected to grow by 115% between 2020 and 2023. So, sales force automation also allows companies to create custom dashboards and reports to provide insight into sales activities and trends in a targeted manner to influence sales.

6. Enhance Your Relationship With Retailers

Retail sales force management provides integrated processes and analytics to the retail industry. It enables retailers to get real-time data about the customers and their buying habits.

The increasing demand for CRM systems and their benefits have encouraged many businesses to use this software to ease their day-to-day tasks.

For retailers, the most significant benefit of using retail sales force management is that it helps them enhance their relationship with their customers by increasing productivity and eliminating hurdles related to managing multiple points of handling sales processes.

Retailers can track their top customers, predict their behavior, and keep them interested in your company’s products.

7. Quickly Solve Problems In The Field

Field managers are the ideal people to solve problems under their authority. However, qualitative contributions require accurate and timely information.

So the retail sales force management detects issues in the deployment of field workers and alerts the appropriate managers to take immediate corrective action.

For example, suppose sales of a specific product in a particular store in the region start to drop. In that case, the platform will detect the problem and notify the relevant manager to rectify the situation.

8. Customer And Transaction Management

You can easily monitor customer contact details, event history, historical interactions, and account discussions with SFA at any time. Moreover, insights can be obtained from social media platforms, and the SFA enables access to data.

You can create custom campaigns and track how your customers interact with a few clicks. And you’ll be notified at each stage. So, you can improve performance set metric-based goals by obtaining real-time data from your team.

To Wrap Up Things

Many businesses strive to be unique, and it’s hard to stand out from the crowd. Whether you sell spices or business software, you need a system to help you generate leads to succeed.

With so many benefits to using sales force automation applications, it’s no wonder that more and more businesses in the industry are making the switch. This is an excellent opportunity for your business to benefit from as well.

How Does Sales Force Automation Help To Improve Salesperson Productivity And Marketing Efforts?

The State of Marketing Automation Survey Report suggests, 75% of marketers currently use at least one automation tool, i.e., sales force automation software. SFA tools focus on automating repetitive and administrative tasks of sales teams to increase productivity. The lead management system software completes non-revenue generating tasks regularly, while the sales team works on an important task: selling.

As per Salesforce, 67% of global marketing leaders use sales and marketing automation software. Are you wondering how this modern method can improve your sales productivity and marketing efforts? Let’s find out!

1. Automate The Sales Process

SFA software can do a task better than humans with zero errors. Not just does it save manual labor, but it allows the sales teams to improve their productivity.

Salesman tracking software automates various important parts of the sales process, including:

  • Lead generation
  • Automated workflows
  • Autofill data entry
  • Reports generation
  • Research on new leads
  • Auto-population of directories
  • Voicemails
  • Call logging
  • Call routing
  • Lead prioritization
  • Appointment scheduling

 Businesses can focus on revenue-generating tasks and boost productivity with an automated sales process. 

2. Up-selling and Cross-Selling

Businesses are more likely to lose their loyal customers due to the high competition. That is why companies need sales force automation software to boost their sales.

Up-selling encourages customers to purchase a higher-end product, while cross-selling encourages customers to buy complementary items. Both are important for any business. When done properly, they provide maximum value to customers. Thus, it leads to an increase in revenue without the expenses of multiple marketing channels.

3. Salesperson Activity Tracking to Boost Productivity

The field sales tracking app can track the sales-related activities of field employees. No matter where they are, the app tracks their activities remotely. It also helps the sales managers in the following ways:

  • Track call logs: Check all call and message logs of the salespeople and analyze their overall productivity.
  • Record meeting history: Check regular meeting recordings to keep track of the work progress.
  • Geo-reporting: Find out the salespeople’s current location anytime. Based on that, check the status of the tasks that were assigned to them.
  • Automated work plans: Assign the salesperson different activities to boost productivity.

According to Leadsquared, salespeople spend only 35% of their time on direct sales activities. So, to aid them, sales force automation software features GPS tracking, sales dashboard, automated day planning, real-time alerts, report generation, and several other collaboration tools. Utilize these features to make the salespeople focus more on sales activities.

How To Drive More Sales with SFA?

You must take advantage of every sales opportunity you get in the way. Utilize secondary sales tracking to find better insights about what to improve in your marketing strategies. Further, you can focus on the following to enhance marketing efforts: 

  • Maximize sales opportunities: You can utilize sales force automation software to generate more leads. You no longer need to rely on aggregate lists of consumers. Instead, you can provide more information to the sales team. This reduces the workload of the salesperson while improving productivity.
  • Find the best deals: Consumer requirements change every day. Hence, you can use a salesperson tracking app to monitor the best deals and generate more profits. It enables you to find out the not-so-profitable deals and ignore them. Also, it educates your sales team about identifying the best deals for your business.
  • Quick response to inquiries: You should track all customer transactions to analyze customer demand. The SFA tool enables you to respond to your consumer queries on time. This offers you better chances of driving more return sales.

The main advantage of automating the sales process is: Businesses can create an ultimate marketing plan. But, how can you create the perfect digital marketing plan? Let’s find out!

1. Tracking Competitors to Develop Strong Marketing Strategies

For any company, growth and success have no limits. It is necessary to stay focused on the end goals in today’s competitive era. It’s also essential to monitor and track the activities of your competitors. According to HubSpot, 75% of marketers have confirmed how digital marketing campaigns have directly impacted business revenue.

Do you aim to cater to a strong digital customer base? You should prioritize the marketing challenges with prominent strategies, tactics, and methods. Use SFA secondary sales tracking features to track your competitors in the following ways:

  • Following latest trends: Digital marketing trends keep on changing with time. It’s important to track your competitors’ digital marketing strategies and success rates. Based on that, you can custom-plan your digital marketing strategies.
  • Identify, plan, & implement: According to Salesforce, 78% of marketers have changed marketing metrics due to the changing digital marketing dynamics. While tracking competitor activities, the SFA suggests customer referral rates and customer acquisition costs to the salespeople. This helps identify profitable strategies and plan the activities accordingly to boost business profitability

2. Manage the Sales Pipeline: Reduce Manual Efforts

Businesses can utilize salesman tracking software to track and monitor the regular activities of salespeople. 

Moreover, it sends alerts to salespeople when a prospect moves to the next level in the sales pipeline. This simplifies the complex process of monitoring team members’ regular activities. Thus, the team works together for the same goal with a clear vision. Besides, as the sales managers don’t have to monitor the team, they can focus on other essential activities. 

Summing Up 

The sales force automation software is designed to provide businesses with every tool to improve sales and productivity. It includes tools for activity tracking, alerts monitoring, sales process automation, sales opportunity tracking, marketing strategy analysis, and dynamic sales pipeline management.

Sales teams can use SFA tools to get the repetitive tasks done on time, making them more productive. Moreover, it comes with more insights available to the sales team and managers. Thus, it can help improve performance and boost productivity.