Toys Sector: Specific aspects and Business Oriented Technologies

You think that selling toys is funny, think again!
The process is not as enjoyable as it may seem. It is, rather, a complex one that has its own particularities.

Improving selling methods and processes, and enhancing sales using the appropriate technologies, is the ultimate goal that any sale manager strives to achieve since marketing, next to the manufacturing, is crucial in the toys business.

Nonetheless, following this tremendous digital trend and fad, which is certainly a source of solutions, is not sufficient any longer. Indeed, these solutions should consider the sector’s peculiarities, and, therefore, be able to connect flawlessly with “the sales funnel”.

A difficult information exchange

Most of the sales representatives in toys companies are nomad (or almost). And the fact that they are in business trips most of the time makes the exchange of information tough, especially when it comes to price, promotions and stock updates.
Generally, these sales reps use printed catalogs with static prices and with no information neither about stock status nor new products announcement.

Phased orders and deliveries

An other special feature lies in the orders volume placed. Based on the market needs and seasons, retailers and distributors stagger their orders in small quantities all along the year. Thus, during customers meetings, salespeople need to have insights into customer information, such as: balances, delivery and payment status, so that they can take the right decisions.

In need for sales tools

Like any meeting in any sector, a commercial visit must be prepared in advance. As regards, sales reps should have key information like customer’s credit worthiness, orders references,etc. Such information push discussions and boost decision making.
In case of operations shift, data related to transactions’ history, orders, non-delivered orders, are quite useful for the salespeople in order to ensure a seamless and smooth customer relation.
Having all the data centralized in one platform is highly important. However, dual data entry can cause quite a headache for employees and be the main source of time waste.
All these particular aspects prove that the traditional process can no longer be adapted to the business and market needs.
Hence, the migration to a digital business oriented process has been mandatory.

The Mobility and the cloud make selling toys better

The mobile solutions can offer multiple features to sales reps and sales managers allowing better management of sales operations and more efficiency in the field.
In fact, adopting such solutions makes any information quickly distributed and easily accessible in real-time, which guarantee its interactivity and rapid adoption by all users in the field. And as a matter of fact, this allows better coordination and strengthens the supervision of the mobile sales force.

Some of the features a mobile automated sales solution offers are:

  • A digital catalog with real-time access to stock, promotion, and price updates.
  • An access to the outstanding balances, customer situation, orders history: such data strengthens the  sales reps arguments allowing them to make the right decisions, lead a winning negotiation along customer meetings, take the necessary measure in time, and, thereof, adopt the adequate sales techniques (up selling, cross selling, advice, etc)
  • Dashboards coming with graphs and summary statistics on sales agents performance, progress and achievements. An automatic integration with ERPs enabling orders centralization and reducing the processing time and ensure a mutual exchange of information.

 

 

Valomnia, has evolved to be a leader in solutions dedicated to toys sector. Along the journey, the company has been supporting the leaders in the French toys sectors:

Juratoys, the French leader in wooden toys, opted for our Valomnia sales solution.

So far, the application is used by 40 mobile Sales Representative with more than 10 thousand products15 thousand customers and generating more than 4 500 000 statistic and more than 1 300 000 orders. The solution has boosted the sales reps efficiency along their visits thanks to the real-time information they are equipped with.

 

Likewise, another French leader, a distributor of Premium toys and decoration brands, has adopted Valomnia solution for mobile sales in order to share the products catalog with all the mobile force in real-time, receive the orders taken in the field timely and centralize it in one platform. Other features as the live reporting and surveys (merchandising & customer satisfaction) have guaranteed a smoother and flawless communication and coordination with the workers from one hand, and, build a valuable and constructive relationship with retailers and distributors from the other hand.

Another benefit Valomnia Sales offers, is the ability to centralize several catalogs. This is the case of a French customer that is, currently, managing six catalogs related to different brands from one and only platform: Valomnia. The company confirmed that its brand image has evolved thanks to the digital, dynamic, interactive and modern catalog displaying high resolution pictures and including all the products’ details. That has a remarkable impact in the lasting image of the brands.

 

Valomnia Sales for the toys market

Valomnia Sales helps sales managers and salespeople benefit from a digital and intelligent front office thanks to mobility, cloud and big data.
It comes with with several functions for order taking, mobile CRM, dematerialized catalog, stock visibility, real time promotions, and more.
The solution offers autonomy to field salespeople and allows them to stay in touch with their sales managers by sending visit reports, notes, and access to the latest product updates.
Since its creation in 2010, Valomnia has had a number of references in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Australia, the United States and France.

 

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