As a manufacturer with a large product range, how can you help your customers choose and buy? Retailers are great – but they can’t represent your full range. With manufacturers facing ever-increasing demand for product upgrades, retailers are pushed to keep up with even a selected range, let alone confidently recommend the “right” product.

As a gut reaction, the solution would seem to be to cut out the middle man and sell direct. But this simple solution is too simplistic, and ignores some complex realities.

Selling direct risks alienating retailers. This can play into the hands of competitors who still have the retailers on side. And anyway, manufacturers still need retailers, with their sales expertise and their physical stores where buyers can handle products and view them close-up. Also, for consumers, visiting a manufacturer’s website can be like walking into a huge store without a sales person to advise them.

The solution to this conundrum may lie with Connective Retailing. Connective Retailing, as the name implies, is a guided selling approach that brings manufacturers, retailers, and customers closer together.

Our whitepaper “Sell direct, without selling directly”, shows how manufacturers can connect with customers – without ruining their relationship with their distribution partners – if they use purpose-built software that digitally replicates in-store experiences.

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