How VARs Can Stay Competitive in Today’s Digital Economy

Empowering VARs to optimize the sales process

It’s not a secret; the business world is evolving, for many reasons, into a more digital approach to commerce. And value-added resellers (VARs) are no exception to this paradigm shift. As the competition continues to become increasingly intense, only VARs that adapt their practices to today’s digital economy will remain profitable.

Here’s how forward-thinking VARs are changing their approach so they can thrive in this new era:

Have the Ability to Work Remotely

From an operational standpoint, working remotely has never been easier and more streamlined. Cloud-based sales and management software provides the ability to work from anywhere with internet connectivity at any time. Not only is the ability to work remotely a convenient option, but it’s also a means to future-proof your business. Crisis situations, like the COVID-19 pandemic, can arise at any time.

Having your company set up to work remotely is a great first step to ensure you—and your customers’— safety as well as help make sure your business remains fully operational and profitable.

Take Your Whole Team Online

Even if your company currently has capabilities to work remotely, is it 100% remote? Most companies still have to go into a central office to do portions of their work and end-of-month reporting. With a cutting-edge solution like VARCommerce, 100% of a VAR’s work can be done online.

One of the biggest reasons people work in offices is to facilitate collaboration.

For a business to succeed, every employee must work together. It may seem that working remotely would be a significant obstacle in achieving this, but it doesn’t have to be.

The right cloud-based solution for working remotely allows your entire team to work anywhere, anytime, but still collaborate and communicate as if they were within a physical office’s confines. Further, as the world’s digital approach to commerce continues to advance rapidly, building and maintaining online relationships with team members and customers becomes more and more essential. Working remotely is becoming the new normal, and VARs’ customers and prospects are expecting you and your team to fulfill your responsibilities and execute initiatives entirely remotely.

Let us show you how your entire team can work 100% remotely!

Create eCommerce Storefronts for Customers

VARs That Can’t Transition Online Are the Ones That are Going Away

As the world’s approach to business changes, so is how consumers gather information about the products they want and need, as well as how they go about purchasing them. Brick and mortar stores are no longer the place consumers do these activities. The world has changed, and VARCommerce has changed with it to meet consumers’ evolving needs.

Physical storefronts have taken a back seat to virtual or online shopping where consumers research every aspect of their desired products online. Often, products are also purchased online, too, based purely on convenience. Online shopping—combined with having the product shipped directly to the consumer’s doorstep—is the ultimate convenience. Consumers get the products they want without leaving the comfort of their homes. VARs that aren’t adapting to this change and providing their customers with eCommerce options are the ones who are struggling and becoming obsolete.

Be Aware of Your Competition

As a VAR, the biggest threats to your success are already online. Why aren’t you?

To compete in today’s digital economy, you must bring your business online and offer your customers the eCommerce options they’re looking for.

Worried about remaining competitive with your pricing? The least expensive option from your competition isn’t always, or necessarily, the best option. Often, items found for the lowest price from big online retailers come as a bare-bone, minimum, basic product offering no added value to the customer. Upfront costs might be slightly higher from a VAR compared to a large online retailer, but the product and added value aspects VARs provide to their customers equate to a better return on investment.

Additionally, big online retailers can’t offer their buyers additional services for products. VAR’s located within their communities can provide 24/7 support, advice and consultation, and guaranteed supply lines combined with the power of VARCommerce. This allows you to compete more effectively with the larger national distributors by offering modern services like eCommerce storefronts combined with local support, services, and warehouses.

Optimize Your Store Site

The news about big online retailers isn’t all bad, however. In fact, Amazon has done an incredible job providing a template of what online shopping and eCommerce storefronts should look like. Their site features ease of navigation, searchable products, and accurate and detailed product descriptions. All of these features have become the norm, and are what customers expect from an online shopping experience.

Online shopping and eCommerce sites that aren’t providing customers with these necessities are the ones that can’t compete and will eventually be phased out. Luckily, VARCommerce’s storefronts have got you covered.

Ensure Integration of all Software Systems

It’s time to stop relying on multiple software programs and logins. Instead, you should be leveraging a single tool that provides access to everything at once and is connected in a single interface.

The ideal solution to do this easily integrates all of the software that makes your business run while letting those solutions work together seamlessly. A single-entry solution should provide access to the software that enables you to do it all:

• Quotes

• eCommerce orders

• Invoice aging reports

• Invoicing

• Electronic purchasing

• Complex commissions

• Collecting Payments

A single-entry VAR solution ensures both ultimate efficiency and a comprehensive place for your business to be managed.

Identify and Optimize Inefficient Processes that Are Costing your Business Money

It’s a sad reality that needs to be faced and addressed: most of today’s VARs are inefficient.

VARs know better than anybody: everything starts with a quote. A single-entry software to guide them through to completion is just the tool they need. Regardless of your business size or the number of quotes generated each month, a positive ROI is always the expectation for your company. VARCommerce provides that and much more.

Forward-Thinking VARs Trust VARCommerce

VARCommerce isn’t just another software company. Our software is designed by VARs themselves that understand firsthand the pain points that every value-added reseller knows and shares. Our solution aims to eliminate these challenges through a complete, single-entry sales and management solution to simplify your business operations.

We want to help you streamline your business and successfully compete with the biggest names in the industry. Contact our team today to request a demo of our software, completely risk-free!