Retail Observer

RETAILOBSERVER.COM OCTOBER 2023 56 I n its quest to make the members' business lives easier, more efficient and more profitable, AVB, the nation's leading member- owned merchandising and marketing co-op for independent home goods stores, has made one of its core retail technology assets available to all BrandSource dealers. HUB, the buying group's proprietary customer relationship management (CRM) tool, can now be integrated into members' back- office operations at no charge. By way of background, HUB allows dealers to create and send quotes to customers and maintain two- way communication by text, email, or phone. The platform, which ties together members' point-of-sale (POS) systems, Alta websites, LINQ merchandising platform, digital price tags, in-store KIOSQ displays, and other retail tools, also allows users to: • Search by specific product attributes like price and size • Screen for items that are in stock or on promotion • Track vendor inventory • Provide sales teams with promotional road maps and sell plans to help direct their efforts on the showroom floor. As Chief Marketing Officer John White explained in his keynote address at the group's recent Convention 2023 event in Nashville, "Communication is king" – and HUB can accompany the customers throughout their shopping journey and across multiple touch points. As powerful as it is, HUB is only one arrow in AVB's quiver. Another indispensable retail tool is SYNC, the group's custom-designed POS system that tracks sales, service, parts, and inventory, and can now automatically submit members' sell-through claims to Whirlpool and Electrolux. The latter function, available to members at no cost, has retrieved an average of $10,000 in unclaimed margin funding for BrandSource dealers who have not historically filed their paperwork, White said, and will extend to additional manufacturers going forward. A dealer's most customer-facing digital asset is, of course, their website, and AVB's Alta e-commerce platform is outperforming competitive systems by 30%, White reported. Contributing to that outperformance is: • A 10-fold increase in Alta's online product catalog • An enhanced search engine that's on par with Google Search • Pricing that reflects any post-sale rebates • On-the-fly pricing updates in near-real time • Full-view, 360-degree product images • The ability to create customized columns • Inventory availability, including vendor warehouses The latter, White said, is one of the first things customers have been trained to look for after experiencing the inventory backlogs of the post-COVID period. As a final value-add, AVB and its vendors are boosting the match funding on marketing and MTEQ bundles for Black Friday/Q4 and Q1 2024, along with special holiday margin enhancements on appliances. "We are making it easier and more affordable than ever to sign up," White said. Alan Wolf is Senior Communications Specialist at AVB BrandSource, the nation's leading merchandising and marketing co-op for independent appliance, furniture, bedding, and consumer tech dealers. FREE-FOR-ALL: HUB UNLEASHED FOR BRANDSOURCE MEMBERS Plus, match funding boosted for Q4-Q1 bundles Alan Wolf Digital Services RO AVB CMO John White walks BrandSource members through the group's newest digital initiatives at Convention 2023.

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