The importance of a good manufacturer-retailer partnership cannot go understated. This partnership should be mutually beneficial for both sides, allowing each party to play off the other’s strengths and create opportunities for each.
While finding the right partners can be a comprehensive process, the work doesn’t stop there. It’s just as important to evaluate a current partner as it is a potential new one. One approach retailers use to give feedback on partnerships is through scorecards. When used correctly, retailer scorecards can strengthen the manufacturer-retailer relationship and provide tangible takeaways for a manufacturer to improve their business standing in ecommerce.
Retailer Scorecards Provide a Snapshot Assessment of a Manufacturer’s Business
A retailer scorecard is simply an itemized health check on a manufacturer’s performance on a retailer website. In visual terms, think of a report card from grade school. A retailer scorecard mimics much of what a report card does, highlighting what’s going well, what’s not going well and calls out specific ways that a manufacturer can improve.
Retailer scorecards can be filled out and discussed at any time, but much like those traditional report cards, they’re often used during regular retailer-manufacturer touch bases or at critical times of the year. Depending on the industry, retailers might want to use them to drive conversations around the time of important trade shows or post-holiday shopping booms. For some retailers, they’re used to discussing performance on a quarterly, bi-annual or annual basis.
What appears on a retail scorecard can vary depending on the retailer…but more on that later. Overall, a retailer scorecard should be viewed as an evaluation method that includes takeaways that impact every level of a manufacturer’s ecommerce business.
“A retailer scorecard is a great tool for day-to-day, boots-on-the-ground type work but is really something everyone in the business can leverage,” said Luke Schoenly, BrandJump Director of Sales. “From the account manager to the CEO, it’s a great visual tool that gives a high-level snapshot of where the account is, what’s working versus what isn’t working and should directly influence the manufacturer’s overall gameplan moving forward.”
Retailer Scorecards Highlight Key Ecommerce Benchmarks
Do retailer scorecards differ depending on the retailer?
In short, yes. Every retailer takes a slightly different approach to “grade” their partners. Scorecards are primarily focused on operations, inventory, product content or a blend of all three elements. It’s just about what that specific retailer values, which can evolve over time.
While scorecards differ across retailers, there are key line items that appear on almost every one. These mainstays are applicable to every product type and manufacturer, such as assortment, merchandising, reviews, pricing, availability, product performance and shipping speed.
Do retailer scorecards differ across product types?
Yes and no. Retailer scorecards more than likely won’t change across product types. That said, they might weigh different elements more/less based on product type. For example, a furniture brand’s benchmark for product damages may be different than for a lighting brand, considering furniture can be more difficult to ship and keep intact.
Improving Your Scorecards Shows Dedication to Being a Good Retail Partner
Retailer scorecards are not the end-all-be-all of retail performance. It’s important to acknowledge this point. A singular poor scorecard doesn’t mean your business is doomed.
But remember: Retailer scorecards do show progress, or lack thereof. Meaning, continued shortcomings on the manufacturer side could lead the retailer to think they’re not a worthwhile partner, that they can’t act on important feedback or a combination of the two. Manufacturers should find ways to implement change where they can or mitigate situations out of their control.
Continuous shortcomings can lead to any number of “penalties.” The retailer could opt for certain chargebacks until the manufacturer fixes recurring problems. Retailers could choose to remove certain problematic SKUs from their site. The worst-case scenario could even result in the retailer ceasing to do business with the manufacturer.
Aside from the bad business implications, a failure to make steady improvements means the manufacturer isn’t invested in improving the partnership or overall performance, which ultimately results in a poor consumer experience.
“Manufacturers oftentimes get so focused on their relationship with the retailer that they sometimes forget the retailer-customer relationship. Those things go hand in hand,” Schoenly said. “If there are significant shortcomings on the manufacturer side, it leaves the customer frustrated with both parties. Overall, the ultimate goal of a manufacturer-retailer relationship should be to improve the end customer experience, and that can be done by making retailer scorecard improvements.”
To keep good standing with your retail partners, manufacturers should take the feedback given on scorecards to heart and show steady improvements on the critical components of the business. It’s also important to always keep the end-customer experience in mind throughout your decision-making.
Using retailer scorecards as a method to track your performance with your retailers can help you make tangible improvements to your online business, showcase your dedication to building solid retail partnerships and ensure a positive customer experience from start to finish.
