Who’s On Your Digital Dance Card?
One critical item retailers need on their digital dance card is a way to engage digitally with the farmer in a way that helps reduce the timing constraints and stress involved with input purchases.
The table on this page, provided by Growers, a North Carolina-based ag tech provider, outlines how five retailers have created offerings to deliver more value and better serve customers.
One focus area for all of them has been the introduction of customer portals. This highlights an issue, which actually is an opportunity.
Farmers Want More
As farmers conduct business with multiple agribusiness partners, it creates friction in the buying process due to engaging with each retailer’s proprietary portal.
This pain point can be solved by adopting an easy-to-use, business agnostic customer buying portal—essentially an app—that links multiple retailers in a given region to the customer.
The elephant in the room
The seller’s gut reaction may be, “This is crazy. Why should I advertise alongside my competitors?” However, the reality is customers will undoubtedly compare prices, so why not prove to them you care? Address the elephant in the room, and improve their buying experience. By simply being the easiest to do business with, you offer a platform that addresses the primary physical and physiological needs of farmers, who want to organize and optimize their businesses yet maintain their “freedom of choice.”
The bigger risk we see is inaction. If ag retailers fail to address a customer need, then it invites customers to take their business to someone else in the long run. Explore your options today.
