Ankorstore Success Guide

For more tips and best practices, we advise you to consult our Ankorstore Blog.

At Ankorstore, we aim to build a community of independent retailers and quality brands who are empowered to take on e-commerce giants and big-box players. We firmly believe that showcasing the highest level of quality and building trust in our network will lead to our mission’s long-term success.

A retailer’s primary focus is to fill their shelves with quality products that sell like hotcakes. However, they aren’t only receptive to the quality of the products, but also the quality of service provided by their suppliers. 

With this in mind, we’re sharing key topics and best practices to help you make the greatest impact on retailers:

1. Manage your network and activate opportunities

Bring in the customer base you built traditionally to unleash the full potential of your network

• Reach new customers through trade fairs

Ankorstore and its commercial operations are complementary to trade shows: Retailers can either place their orders from brands they meet at the trade shows through Ankorstore, or discover and test new brands under great conditions. 

Tips: When you participate in trade shows, you should gather all the email addresses of prospects you meet and then invite them to Ankorstore on the ‘My Network’ tab in your back office

• Seek new customers by prospecting

Find independent retailers in your area who might be a relevant match (concerning the category of product you sell). 

Tips: Identify best targets on the websites of brands similar to you (even competitors) and search for their point of sales. Get in touch with them by either physically visiting their shop or searching for their contact details online.

Understand your customers better and improve your restock & conversion rate with the Ankorstore CRM tool

• Inviting your contacts on the MyNetwork tool will give you clarity regarding your commercial efforts’ prioritisation. You’ll have access to our conversion probability tool and will know if the retailers you invited opened your campaign, added your brand to their ‘ favourite brands’ list, added your products in carts, etc. 

• Ankorstore helps you to focus on low-hanging fruit (i.e., prospects with potential for quick and likely success), ensuring a better return on the time you invest. 

To prioritise calls, you can use the probability tool to determine how likely each contact is to become a potential customer.

Leverage Ankorstore tools to increase your portfolio of customers

• Benefit from our algorithm

Our algorithm promotes active brands that generate orders and consistently deliver excellent service, such as timely shipping and zero defaults.

The more orders you process, the higher your visibility on Ankorstore, leading to more orders.

Being active on the platform triggers a positive feedback loop: More orders lead to increased promotion on various channels like our newsletters, resulting in more visits and further orders.

• Participate in our events

Engage in events like Lift Days and Black Friday, along with other commercial operations we launch throughout the year.

These events aim to recruit new retailers, increase brand sales through new and existing retailers, and offer great conditions for retailers to replenish their inventory.

• Create frequent newsletters

Utilize our Customer Relationship Management tools to create newsletters.

Use the templates available in our ‘Campaign’ tab.

Newsletters can promote various aspects of your business, such as new products, and are an effective way to engage with your audience.

• Invite Your Retailers to Order on Ankorstore

Encourage your existing retail network to make their purchases through Ankorstore.

Our algorithm recognizes active stores with consistent visitors and purchases, highlighting the relevance and demand for your products.

Regular CRM actions will further enhance your brand's visibility through additional communication channels.

• Widget

Implement our widget on your website to direct customers to your Ankorstore shop.

Customers using this route will automatically benefit from a voucher, and you’ll enjoy a 0% order management fee with these orders for 12 months.

Be active on social media to increase organic visibility

Share your Ankorstore shop on social media platforms and other networks

Post often on social media to highlight new products, current promotions.

Communicate with your customers via My Network

Communicate effectively with your retailers to maximise your sales on Ankorstore.
Retailers value key insights about your brand and products to help them plan their assortment and purchasing strategies.

My Network is our CRM tool, designed to help you engage with your customer network.
Personalise your communications with retailers as much as possible to get the best results.

2. Display complete and accurate content for your online shop

Share a compelling and engaging brand story

Your brand story is the most important element of your communication tools on Ankorstore website. It allows you to make your customers understand the values, the origin and the qualities that make your brand unique. 

Don’t forget that Ankorstore’s algorithm valorises the visibility of the brands that feed or refresh with details their brand story. It is therefore necessary to dedicate the necessary time to this story creation, in order to obtain the maximum impact on your readers. Display complete and accurate content for your online shop. That will increase your visibility on our platform and increase your chance of making a sale!

Independent retailers need to be able to convey your story as well as you do. In your own words and stressing what is important to you, share your unique selling proposition with your audience.

Here are some tips from the pros

• Start by determining the message you want to convey through your brand. What makes your brand unique and why should people be interested in it?

• Make it clear, concise, but use at least 200-300 words. 

• Structure your text in paragraphs, each paragraph should represent one idea.

• Explain how your brand was born, what it is today, who makes it alive: put a face on your brand.

• Mention the main products that make your reputation and most of all, explain which kind of customers you have: that way, retailers will recognize themselves as potential buyers.

• Push on your strengths that are trendy: animal cruelty free, vegan, made in Europe, any kind of label or award in general.

• Highlight what makes your brand unique and different from others. What sets you apart from the competition and why should people choose your brand over another?

• Keep in mind that your brand story is a living and evolving element. You can adapt and update it over time to reflect changes in your business and target audience.

• Use an authentic and sincere tone. Your brand story should reflect your personality and values, so make sure it sounds natural and not like an advertisement.

Check as many of the below points to improve your selling chances: 

• Creation date and place

• Brand presence/coverage

• The brand key message you want your retailers/network to share 

• What inspired you to launch this brand? 

• What is your story as a founder? 

• What is your manufacturing process? 

• What makes your brand unique? What are your values?

• Press content/quotes/certificates/recognition/awards you are proud of

• Use bullet points to increase your content’s impact

• Here’s how you can easily change the information about your brand

Example of a Compelling Brand Story: Huski Home brand story

We’re Lisa and Luke, and together we created Huski Home. We want to contribute to the collective movement towards a sustainable future by creating products that will eliminate the need for existing and single-use plastics. We believe that everyone has the power to create a brighter future and through small changes in our everyday lives, we can see a renewable world in our lifetime.

Huski Home was inspired by our son Leo, who was appointed to be an eco-warrior at school. He started to question us on changes we could make at home to become more sustainable and reduce waste. This led us to research and develop products that could make a real difference. In the UK alone, we use 7 million disposable coffee cups every day, amounting to around 2.5 billion every year, of which 182 million ends up on our streets and in our oceans. Following our initial research, we decided to develop our merchandise from bi-products as we felt these were underutilised and could solve an issue without creating a new one, or exhausting existing resources.

Throughout our research and development, we came to realise that the journey to sustainability was not about perfection, but everyone making small changes to see a collective difference and learn from one another. 

After a year of research and development, the Huski Home rice husk travel cups were born. We have since evolved into our coconut products and grass straws. We felt all of these products complemented each other, as they could be easily swapped into your daily routine.

Our son made us realise the real need for change, giving us the drive to make a sustainable future that is better for him and our other children, Zara and Jude. Seeing our vision materialise and grow, has been amazing. Every day our work is rewarding because our customers and stockists share our vision for a sustainable future. It’s a delight to be a part of something that will make a real impact, whilst engaging with something we’re so passionate about daily.

Optimized brand story example

How XBrand was born

XBrand was born in 2005. Sarah, its owner, decided to change profession and live from her passion, sewing. Mother of 3 adventurous children, she spent many hours of her free time sewing them clothes adapted to their vitality and the seasons. She decided at some point  to give up her career in human resources and gradually turned to making colorful and resistant clothes for young children in her workshop. Based in France, she now produces high quality clothing and accessories and sells her products throughout Europe.

Handcrafted quality and non-toxic fabrics

Xbrand offers products for babies and young children (up to 4 years old), such as hats, pants and t-shirts, warm sweaters and cardigans for girls and boys. The range is renewed each season and includes a category dedicated to gifts and birth lists. These clothes and accessories are entirely sewn by hand with organic fabrics and are not tested on animals. The inks used are natural and resist many washes. These garments are resistant to intense activities of children and time, thanks to the use of high quality raw materials.

XBrand's commitment and values

Xbrand's vocation is to dress children with quality clothing and accessories, following fashion but above all by using handcrafted know-how and respectful of the environment. The artisanal quality of the products implies that the production is limited. Xbrand is ideal for sale in environments such as concept stores or independent children's clothing stores. Xbrand is labeled vegan and organic accordingly to the EU legislation.

Display quality content and keep your catalogue up to date

Good positioning of your brand on Ankorstore increases your visibility and chances to get spotted by retailers. Please note that the position of your brand in the search depends mostly on the ranking algorithm that analyzes the content of your page.

How can I increase the visibility of my brand on Ankorstore?

There are plenty of ways how to improve your visibility, mainly:

• Invite a big network of your historial clients and prospects to generate traffic on your page.

• Display quality content in your brand and product information.

• Apply discounts to your products regularly.

• Create collections of your products (for example: Summer Collection, Holiday Collection, etc).

• Participate in our seasonal events (if open for subscription).

• Create a widget on your website that redirects to your Ankorstore page.

• Promote your Ankorstore page on social media.

How can I make my catalog more attractive?

• Add new products regularly (every few months).

• Provide good product titles that indicate the type of the product (for example: candle, dress, gift card) and add keywords that describe them more in detail (for example: material, label). Please remember that product titles are not translated so we recommend you to use a universal wording, for example in English.

• Create a unique and detailed product description indicating benefits and technical information about the items and include keywords that your retailers might be looking for (for example: organic, natural, eco).

• Include appropriate tags in your product information (for example: bestseller).

• Adjust all product variations (sizes, colors, other).

• Adjust correct categories and sub-categories to your products.

• Add the country of origin to your products (made in).

• Provide prices with a good margin to your retailers.

• Fill in any other non-mandatory information about your products that can be important for your potential clients (for example: dimensions, date of minimum durability, list of ingredients).

• Make your visual branding (imagery) consistent, inspirational, product-centric, and detail-oriented.

• Add many good quality product images - single images with no text or logo that best show the atmosphere of the product (for example: mood image), with an interesting background and lighting (avoid photos with only white background), include a variety of different views and angles (details, lifestyle, packaging).

• Try creating sets or packs of products (for example Pack of 6 ‘Holiday’ T-shirts).

• Limit the number of out-of-stock products and update the correct stock quantities regularly.

Optimise your product names and descriptions

• Product Name

Should start with the descriptive object (Eg. candle/face cream)

Should start with an uppercase and be followed by lower case 

Should include a variation of the name if applicable 

Should include your catalogue reference product name 

Can include main product characteristic
Tip: Make sure your product name can be easily translated 

• Product Description

Start with a short and sharp descriptive paragraph including: 

• Main product features (starting with most important) 

• What makes it special and when is it best used
  Avoid relying on vague, misleading, or overly technical product headlines.

• Add 5 bullet points of product features and benefits, e.g., technical details such as product reference on the brand catalogue, weight, dimensions, materials, functions, localisation of the product and its manufacture (eg. made in France/made in Europe), care instructions, packaging, fitting details, minimum quantity per product, etc:

  • Make sure bullets are equally spaced: consistency in format and across all product descriptions is key

  • Make sure to include all relevant in-text keywords

Manage your catalogue to keep it up-to-date and appealing

• Regularly add new products (every few months).

• Provide good product titles that indicate the type of product (e.g. candle, dress, gift card) and add keywords that further describe them in detail (e.g. material, label).

  Please note that product titles are not translated, so we recommend using universal terminology, for example in English.

• Create a unique and detailed product description indicating the benefits and technical information about the items and include keywords that your retailers might search for (e.g. organic, natural, eco).

• Include appropriate tags in your product information (e.g. best-seller).

• Adjust all product variations (sizes, colors, others).

• Adjust the correct categories and subcategories for your products.

• Add the country of origin to your products (made in).

• Provide pricing with a good margin to your retailers.

• Fill in all other non-mandatory information about your products that may be important for your potential customers (e.g. dimensions, minimum durability date, ingredient list).

• Make your visual branding (imagery) consistent, inspiring, product-focused, and detail-oriented.

• Add plenty of high-quality product images - simple images without text or logos that best display the product's atmosphere (e.g. ambiance image), with interesting background and lighting (avoid photos with only a white background), include a variety of different views and angles (details, lifestyle, packaging).

• Try creating product sets or packs (e.g. Pack of 6 'Holiday' T-shirts).

• Limit the number of out-of-stock products and regularly update the correct stock quantities.

3. Demonstrate great reliability in executing orders

Daily Check-ins: Manage orders and customer satisfaction daily.

Check your Ankorstore emails and log in to your Ankorstore account regularly to track incoming orders. 

Stock Management: Anticipate demand by updating stocks.

Why is it important to update your stock regularly?

• To increase your sales - don’t miss out on sales due to out of date stock levels!

• To improve your overall customer experience - stock-outs discourage retailers from ordering from your brand.

• To build your brand image - keeping your stock levels updated helps you build the reputation of your business. 

• To save time -  when you add your current stock to Ankorstore, you can track depleting stocks in real time, so you can plan your replenishments in advance.

Do you have products that are out of stock? You can easily transform them into products available for pre-order so you don't miss out on any sales opportunities! See our FAQ to find out more.

More information on how to update your stock in our 📄 Stock Management

Prompt Shipping: Strive to deliver on your time-to-ship pledge - it's the key to building trust and customer loyalty

Retailers on Ankorstore expect to receive the best service in the industry. Just like you, we want them to come again. Here are the main drivers that we track that make a difference in the customers’ eyes.

Orders are shipped on time: > 95% of the time.

Orders are accepted by you: > 98% of the time.

Orders are delivered in full to the customer (i.e. 0 default, right product, right quantities): > 95% of the time

Validate orders quickly – i.e. in less than 24h

By acknowledging their orders quickly, you’ll reassure retailers and initiate trust very early in the process. It’s very important to retailers that they receive this first ‘human’ confirmation from you as soon as possible as a stepping stone for a fruitful collaboration! 

Tips: Set up a routine to regularly check incoming orders in your Ankorstore shop (at least once a day). You can set up a 10-min check-up at a fixed time to acknowledge and validate all recent orders.

Provide the validation as quickly as possible (standard is <24h). Order acknowledgement is a big deal to retailers who need to meet particular time-sensitive demands. Orders that haven’t been validated will cause the retailer to worry about receiving their order in time, which could result in a negative memory.

In case you cannot meet customer expectations: (e.g., unforeseen event, stock shortage)

Clearly state the reason (e.g., products out of stock, the retailer is not a good fit, cannot deliver in this area, another customer in the same area, the exclusive distributor in this country, preparation time too high)

Adjust the order and reach out to the retailer to :

• Warn them that you have to adjust the order (how to use Messages – link with Engagement)

• Explore how this unexpected event can be accommodated for

If you refuse an order because the product is out of stock, be reactive and update your inventory in your account.

More information about how to manage your inventory can be found here : 

📄 Stock Management

For retailers, predictability and transparency always win!

Meet expected time-to-ship – i.e. fulfil pledges as communicated online.

Fulfilment begins once an order is placed. The retailer expects you to meet the expected maximum shipping date displayed on your Ankorstore page. This includes the time from validating and preparing the incoming order to ship it. By delivering on this expectation, you increase your reliability as a supplier.

Reliability is the cornerstone of long-lasting trust! 

Tips: Make sure what you promise is realistic to manage retailers’ expectations.

Most customers favour a short shipping time ( <1 week), but your promise shouldn’t be communicated if it can’t be met 95% of the time. In the long run, predictability and reliability win over unmet expectations.

Another way to improve customer satisfaction is to increase the velocity of your processes to deliver on a more challenging promise. If you need to edit your lead time in your account, go to Settings → Average shipping lead time → Choose your desired shipping lead time → Save

Regularly check what orders need to be prepared and sent.

Put in order of descending priority to anticipate what tasks need to be performed before shipping. If you want to ship an order on D-day, you should:

• Plan and confirm the pick-up with the carrier by D-day or the parcels dropped off at a relay point.

•  Have the shipping labels printed with all adequate information

• Have the dimensions, weight, number of parcels, carrier and tracking number filled in.

• Have the right invoices printed out before sealing the parcels if shipping crossborder

• Have the shipping options selected: 📄 📦 Ankorstore shipping policy

• Have the products carefully picked 

• Have the orders placed on the products transferred to the relevant people/team

Increase your reliability in the eyes of retailers

Reliability is essential to gain the trust of retailers and build a community of independents who prioritize quality!

To reassure customers about the order process, provide the tracking number

Retailers want complete transparency about the location of their orders throughout the delivery process. Thus, we recommend the use of tracking numbers ("tracking number"). These are numbers (different from the order number) assigned by the carrier to parcels when they are shipped. Anyone with the tracking number can know where the order is. It is usually printed on the shipping label in the form of a barcode that can be scanned by anyone with a suitable reader. Using a tracking number allows you to:

• Get paid directly upon delivery (instead of when the merchant marks the order as received).

• Increase retailer satisfaction and trust. Indeed, customers who can track their packages are less likely to worry about their orders and no longer cancel "as a precaution" due to lack of visibility

• Reduce recurring follow-ups from merchants regarding the tracking of their orders.

• Track all your orders in one place and monitor the performance of your carrier.

• Precisely locate parcels, which helps you resolve issues faster, especially when recovering lost parcels.

  Thanks to these tips, you will build and maintain a reputation as a reliable and credible business partner

Robust Packing: First impressions last

We have solutions for you to reduce the number of damaged products during parcel shipments as much as possible. This will reduce your damage rate and at the same time reinforce your reliability with our retailers. Review our packaging guideline here for more information. 📄 Packaging guidelines: avoid damaged orders

Ensure all ordered products are prepared

The most common customer complaints can be avoided during product preparation/packaging. The crucial thing is to ensure that all ordered items are shipped. That means:

• The correct quantity of products (no product missing)

• The correct products (no wrong product). It is advisable to double-check sizes and colors.

Tips: Use the order as a packing list to verify that the quantity and type of products match the order

4. Provide full transparency and remain responsive to any inquiry

Increase your credibility as a committed member of the independent business community 

Making yourself easily reachable will reassure retailers, initiating trust and reliability before they even place an order. Reactivity is crucial to creating a link between retailers and brands and making them more likely to want to place an order. 

Tips: Regularly check your Ankorstore profile account for retailer requests to be highly reactive (‘Activities’ > ‘My messages’).

Remain responsive to help our Customer Service

This helps our customer service department avoid unnecessary communication issues, which greatly supports the level of service we provide to retailers.

Tips: 

• Validate your order quickly 

• Meet expected time-to-ship

• Provide the best shipping experience to your customers 

Be accommodating to your retailers in cases of unforeseen circumstances 

Retailers will always value the transparency and predictability you provide, even if you’re unable to satisfy their order in the short term.

They’ll also appreciate how accommodating you can be when it comes to collaborating and finding workarounds for both parties.