Short-Chain Business Development
In order to establish a relevant commercial development for its products in short supply chains, several points of vigilance must be known and worked on.
Know your market
Any commercial development should start with a market study, in order to adopt a commercial policy that fits the local market.
What type of customers do we want to target? Do we want to sell BtoB or BtoC? What are the existing distribution channels?
Will we make deliveries or delegate this aspect to a service provider?
All these questions must be addressed upstream, before launching into commercial development.
They will influence the development strategy and help define the brand.
Define your brand
To start commercial development, you need to define your brand.
Having a strong brand identity will help differentiate yourself in the market.
Defining your brand is a multi-step process.
- Define your vision : What are our objectives, our target, and any projects we want to implement.
- Identify your target audience : Their preferences and expectations.
- Offer a unique service : This will be our value proposition.
- Create a visual identity : Logo, choice of colors, typography,... to be recognizable at a glance and offer a coherent whole.
These steps should not be neglected but are an investment for the long term.
A well-defined brand can endure over time.
Use tools to get support
Commercial development will be more efficient if, from the start, you take control of marketing support tools and adapt them to your system.
This will save a lot of time and help you stay organized from the beginning of sales. It is also possible to choose to set up a commercial website with a click and collect or delivery system.
However, be careful to ask yourself the right questions before embarking on this type of project : An online shop to sell in short supply chains : good or bad idea?
For more information on the subject, we invite you to read the page: Marketing tools in short supply chains.
Maintain customer relationships
Finding new customers and retaining them is essential to develop sales.
Several strategies are possible and communication is part of it.
For example, the use of social networks is a good lever to make your products known and expand your target audience.
These areas will help build a solid foundation for commercial development and are developed on the page: Using social networks to promote direct sales services.
Sources
This article was written thanks to the kind contribution of Sucrine Club.
