Fitsok LLC makes high-end running socks for specialty retailers across the country. Selling to the specialty segment calls for much in the way of relationship management. Buyers are interested not only in pricing, stock levels and ease of purchase, they also want in-depth product data, the ability to browse new inventory in real time, and more in the way of market-relevant service and information.

As a specialty product wholesaler, how do you approach an independent retailer likely to want your line of product? More important, given we live in the Internet Age, how do such retailers connect with you?

“We wanted to create a platform that would work in a B2B scenario,” says Fitsok brand director Jeff Bull. “We’re not a big box, but a specialty retailer. To serve customers in our space you need a  solution capable of speaking to multiple small business owners with differing wants and needs.”

Chanhassen, Minn.-based Fitsok previously reached out to customers via independent sales representatives, a strategy that brought disappointing results. Independent reps typically offer product lines from multiple suppliers, some of which fall through the cracks during sales presentations. They tend also to operate within major city limits, neglecting potential buyers among worthy retailers in rural areas.

There were issues inside Fitsok as well. Orders coming in via phone, fax and Excel spreadsheet were a source of back-office havoc, as the company lacked an effective way to easily maintain and update order records in a central file.

Fitsok needed a solution that offered more—and more consistent—brand exposure along with a less paper-intensive method for maintaining records. It chose Handshake Direct, a B2B e-commerce platform that allows retail customers to browse inventory, check order status and place new orders on a 24/7 basis through a self-service e-commerce site. The password-based site lets B2B customers log on to see view and purchase products based on their contract terms.

Not a customer acquisition tool, Handshake focuses on maximizing relationships currently in place. It’s fixed not on marketing, but on sales volume and customer service. Fitsok promoted its Handshake portal via a series of emails encouraging customers to sign up and start ordering. Targeted messaging to these customers pitched the system’s virtues; for example, the ease with which customers could select products, sized and ordered in particular styles. Fitsok also promoted Handshake the old-fashioned way by enclosing mailers with a screen shot of the new B2B site in orders bound for customers not yet online.

These simple tactics proved surprisingly effective. Only about 22% of wholesale distributors with a B2B e-commerce platform have more than 40% of their B2B customers placing orders online, according to a July 2015 survey Handshake conducted of 410 wholesale distributors across 12 industries worldwide. But in the case of Fitsok, 54% of its customers buy on its web portal, Fitsok says. The sock manufacturer attributes the B2B site’s s success to Fitsok’s promotion of the Handshake portal, backed up by the benefits customers quickly realized upon using it. Fitsok also improved its order processing. Now the company says it processes and ships most orders within 24 hours, instead of taking longer than a day. “The transition to Handshake has been mostly painless,” Bull says. “There weren’t many integration problems. The hard part was getting the word out to customers. They’re hearing us now.”

Handshake says its pricing for Handshake Direct varies based on the size of a client’s customer base and product catalog, and the amount of customization a manufacturer or distributor requires.

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