Direct-to-consumer and wholesale are two essential channels to brands. It seems like the trend always sways between DTC and wholesale – sometimes it’s as if DTC will take over, then it seems it will all go back to wholesale. Truth is, brands need both.

Discover how brands can navigate customer acquisition between DTC and wholesale and the platform used by Columbia, Mountain Hardwear, The North Face, Nixon (and many more) that enables and empowers them to do so.

A Few Words About DTC and Wholesale

DTC has many pros, but the biggest challenge for a brand exclusively exploiting this channel is that they have to do everything related to customer acquisition and marketing themselves. And with digital advertising costs rising and conversion rates dropping, it’s getting harder to acquire customers online.

The biggest advantage of the wholesale channel for brands is the high exposure and traffic brought to them by their retail partners, driving customer acquisition. Around 85% of purchases are made in retail stores. Brands need an in-store presence.

Hybrid Approach

We believe that a hybrid approach is the best way to go for brands in the outdoor industry. Brands need multiple robust customer acquisition channels. Only relying on either DTC or wholesale is not viable.

Not only do we believe a hybrid approach is the way to go, but the relationship between brands and retailers needs to be a partnership. Brands and their reps have a vital role to play in the sell-through of their products in stores.

Increase Wholesale Customer Acquisition and Sales – the ENDVR Platform

ENDVR is a platform designed for brands in the outdoor industry. It enables and empowers them to have a great impact on wholesale customer acquisition and sell-through by reaching sales associates on their phone with campaigns. Upon completion of each of the campaigns, associates are rewarded with cash, discounts, free product or prizes. Here are four ways brands can impact customer acquisition and sales with ENDVR by capitalizing on what shoppers love.

1. Motivated sales associates create great in-store experiences for wholesale customers. With ENDVR, brands can launch, manage and track digital sales contests in a scalable way.

The Sales Manager for Giro in North America says: “If you’ve ever run a manual sales contest from past, you really appreciate the ease and the efficiency of this wonderful tool.” Watch her full one-minute testimonial here.

2. Motivation is one thing, but knowledge is another. Shoppers want to be advised by knowledgeable sales associates that can bring value to their in-store visits. With the ENDVR platform, brands can reach store employees right on their phone with bitesize, frequent learning modules about every technical detail of their products.

3. One aspect related to shoppers’ good in-store experience is the look and feel of the retail store and merchandising is a big part of that. ENDVR offers the possibility for brands to launch merchandising campaigns. Get employees of all your stores to make your products attractive and good looking, without having to get there yourself and receive pictures of the final results.

4. Lastly, DTC allows brands to gather insights directly from their customers. With ENDVR, brands can send surveys directly to store employees, asking them what are the biggest objections they face, what is their brand’s easiest product to sell and why or any other question.

The Marketing Director at Burton tells: “ENDVR is not only a great experience, it’s a massive resource saving solution for brands and retailers that want to train, incentivize, and gather quality data and intel from their sales associates.”

Nixon is one brand that has been using ENDVR for more than 3 years now. They have a great transactional website for their DTC channel. But, they realize and embrace the fact that they need to collaborate with their retail partners in order to increase their wholesale customer acquisition and sales.

Nixon uses ENDVR to:
1. Incentivize sell-through across thousands of points of distribution.
2. Increase product-knowledge amongst frontline employees.
3. Turn frontline employees into brand advocates and reward them for their
advocacy.

Watch the full one-minute testimonial from the VP of Sales at Nixon here.

Visit ENDVR’s website to know how the platform could help you and your brand