Who has what products where and when are key questions swirling for the 2022 growing season and its required crop inputs.
Retailers who have digitized their business will be in a better position to answer those questions says AgVend co-founder Alexander Reichert.
“Don’t underestimate the power and value of the trusted adviser. Those guys will make sure they find the product and get it to their customers,” he says. “However, using digital can help them navigate the supply chain challenges. And digitally enabled retailers will be the ones who provide the best experience for their growers.”
He shares these three advantages of the digitally-enabled ag retailer:
1. They will have better visibility and understand where product is in the supply chain.
“In the ag industry, producers are very accustomed to paying in advance for a booking, and perhaps it’s been confirmed by a written ticket. But they haven’t traditionally known where their product is in the fulfillment process and when it will be delivered,” Reichert says. “And when supplies are constrained, and growers are worried—they want visibility. Digital can give that transparency, that peace of mind, without additional calls or emails.”
When ordering, supply vendor relationships and fulfillment are digitized, the transparency in the system increases and eliminates the “black hole” of paper-based orderings.
2. Digital inventory management provides active inventory insights.
“Retailers need to know exactly what product is on hand and how much is available. And when it’s out of stock, sales people can use technology in the field to identify similar alternative products that are in inventory,” Reichert says.
The AgVend app will allow sales people to know when they are sold out of Product A, and then prompts with a similar Product B that has available inventory and gives a comparison of the two products.
“It’s about identifying the need to swap out a product in real-time and ensuring the sales rep can easily communicate the similarities and advantages of the alternative to their customers,” Reichert says.
3. Digital orders are confirmed in real-time.
Reichert shares an example that highlights the vulnerability in the current input market for ag retailers to secure orders.
“Recently, one of our partners mandated all orders go through the AgVend sales hub. This was prompted by a single fertilizer order that had been written on a ticket in July but was misplaced and not actually entered into their system until October. The market shifted and that retailer was out $100,000 because of one misplaced order,” Reichert says. “The paper shuffle costed them. So, now every order is entered through the app to ensure that they are placed in real-time.”
Reichert shares the clarification that digitizing the business may or may not include e-commerce. However, the investment in the digital customer experience is needed now and for the future.
“We hear from our partners and other suppliers that these supply chain challenges will last for the next two to three years. But the companies who have digitized their work, and invested in training their sales teams to use these tools, will actually thrive in this environment,” he says.
