Certified iControl Partner
- Need Help Getting Your Product or Service Considered?
iControl's Certified iControl Partner program helps manufacturers and brokers introduce their products to iControl's partners and clients while being pre-certified to transact business. iControl works with prospective Certified iControl Partners to ensure they are able and prepared to send and receive data from iControl on behalf of iControl's many clients, making them ready and eligible to offer their product for sale at tens of thousands of iControl client outlets!
Are you a manufactureror broker with a great product who would like to have the opportunity to present the product to America's best retailers? Are you prepared to conduct business on the basis of SBT in order to gain market share, among other benefits?
If so, our Certified iControl Partner program is right for you.
Our Certified iControl Partner program is geared towards brokers and manufacturers of goods that are appropriate for sale at mainstream brick and mortar retailers. Our Certified iControl Partner program is appropriate for both new and established manufacturers or distributors with who have a market-ready product or line of products.
See below to find out more about how iControl can help you, or contact us
In today's challenging economic times, our Certified iControl Partner program offers a practical, cost-effective sales channel, as well as a terrific supplement for independent brokers who have the relationships to introduce products, but may need help complete the cycle by getting products set up for electronic commerce.
And you can have these benefits, without incurring large fixed costs.
Joining the Certified iControl Partner program provides manufacturers or distributors interested in greater penetration into premium retail space, with a reputable partner who has regular high-level interaction - and frequently on-site staff - with all the retailers we conduct business with.
For Brokers, choosing to be a part of the Certified iControl Partner provides the opportunity to benefit from iControl's technical know-how, reputation, access to and relationships with many of America's great retailers.
In addition to its sales and marketing services, iControl provides retailers and manufacturers with a simple way to move forward on a relationship. The core IT services iControl provides to Certified iControl Partners include the following benefits:
- Negating the need for the retailer to set you up as a new vendor. Most retailers are not intersted in adding vendors at this time, because of the administrative costs associated with managing vendors. Many retailers will opt to not carry a new product if it involves adding a vendor
- Simple "plug and go" capabilities. If your product has a UPC code, iControl can add you to a retailer's system and pricebook in a matter of hours. If a retailer likes your product and wishes to carry it, having iControl involved exponentially speeds-up your time to market
- Fully established EDI and EAP interfaces. Because iControl already transacts millions or billions of items with each retailer, your product would immediately flow into our existing, proven and fully-operational Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Electronic Accounts Payable (EAP). From the moment a retailer approves your product, you could be in a store within days, and getting daily sales data and weekly payments - hassle free.
From Kim T. Gordon, an author of four books, marketing expert and media spokesperson:
Winning shelf space in the retail superstores is a wholesaler's dream. First, you'll need a great product that's priced to move quickly off the shelves. It should be packaged to grab the attention of shoppers and facilitate sales. Before approaching the superstores, you must also be prepared to communicate via electronic data interchange (EDI), because most chains dispensed with paper orders in the early '90s. Accepting Scan-Based-Trading (SBT) is often an additional requirement.
While buyers for some major chains still expect the president of the company to call them directly, most prefer to work with established sales representatives with whom they regularly do business. Choose a rep firm with expertise and strong relationships with the retailers you are pursuing.
Make sure you're prepared with solid knowledge of your competition and customers, and price your product competitively.
You need to know what you are selling and where you are selling it. iControl's state-of-the-art iControl Interactive Reporting System is included with our program.
iControl IR is an extraordinarily powerful database where you will be able to view your sales and data in nearly 100,000 different pre-set configurations. Or, you can design your own version of reports and save them for on-going use, using the simplest, friendliest tools you'll ever see!
Most commonly, our clients prefer to use the following built in reports:
- Sales by chain, division, or market
- Sales by store, group of stores, or demographics
- Sales by SKU or UPC
- Sales by date or date range
- Sales by date range compared to same date range in prior periods
- Returns, Out of Stocks (OOS) and Zero Activity
- On the Rise Stores
- On the Decline Stores
