Five reasons why wholesalers shouldn't ignore digital advertising

b2b.store’s Head of Business Development, Adam Turner, explains why there’s money to be made by promoting online

Wholesalers are always talking about sweating their assets to make them as cost-effective as possible. It’s understandable given the squeeze businesses in this sector are being put under, especially in recent years.

But sometimes that focus on efficiency and reducing costs can result in missed opportunities, where wholesalers could be bringing in another revenue stream by approaching things in a slightly different way.

This has never been truer than digital advertising. Promoting products on an eCommerce platform, at the point of purchase, is always a good idea because it’s a great way to convert visitors into sales – but it could also bring in extra cash from suppliers that want to advertise too.

Put like that, it seems like a no brainer to explore and is perhaps surprising that digital advertising is such an untapped market. Here’s why you shouldn’t leave it on the table.

Suppliers are already aware of the value of advertising in an eCommerce environment and are willing to support wholesalers looking to utilise this approach effectively on their channels. With the right functionality, wholesalers can offer all sorts of advertising options of different values, providing a suite of spaces that mean multiple promotions can be run at the same time. This can quickly become a new, regular revenue stream coming into a wholesaler’s business, as well as enhancing the effectiveness of an eCommerce platform to drive more sales. Unleash the power!

Digital advertising is more sophisticated than print advertising and that makes it a lot more effective. With print, adverts can be placed in a position where everyone will see promotions or deals, regardless of their relevance to a customer, whereas online tools allow messages to be a lot more targeted. Customer segmentation means adverts will only be sent to relevant customers – based on region, previous spend or another variable – therefore increasing the effectiveness of activity and allowing messages to be tailored to target customers.

Some digital advertising platforms also allow for scheduling of adverts to make it easier to plan campaigns and ensure promotions are live at the best possible time to get sales.

Knowledge is king in any business and the data you generate by operating online arms you with plenty of it. Digital campaigns will automatically provide results to show how effective they are – tracking the number of views and interactions/clicks for a particular advert. This should help wholesalers hone the effectiveness of their advertising, meaning that the time and money spent can be directly attributed to how much influence the activity has on a purchase.

b2b.store’s B2B Digital Advertising module includes an add-on to provide the ability to run split tests on adverts, product listings and imagery to simultaneously compare different approaches with your customer base. This is the best way to constantly improve digital advertising performance to inspire more sales.

Digital adverts aren’t just static, standalone graphics that display products, they can link directly to online SKUs and calls to action. In an eCommerce environment, this can be much more valuable than on other media, such as print, because adverts can be engaged with and acted upon immediately – in an ideal scenario, it will end with a customer buying the product.

We know from our insight that customers are ordering more frequently but basket sizes are down and one of the tools in a wholesaler’s armoury to increase the size of orders is digital advertising.

Traditional print advertising is pretty one-dimensional and while there are times that buying space on a page is a worthwhile investment, the advent of digital has opened up a whole range of possibilities. With the right platform linking to a wholesaler’s eCommerce, a variety of content, including animations, links or short videos, can now be supported.

Where the adverts are placed is also more varied, with banner, carousel, skyscraper and interstitial advertising options. All can be managed with minimal fuss with the right support, as long as the artwork provided is to the correct dimensions.