GMDC365 bridges retail buyers and suppliers
SAN ANTONIO — GMDC and The Retail Gateway on Sunday will showcase the latest virtual connectivity innovation — GMDC365 — that will help bridge the gap between retail buyers and suppliers at the GMDC/FMI Health & Wellness @Retail 2013 conference.
The GMDC365 website helps vendors and buyers connect within their specific categories and retail channels.
“The goal of the website was to create a B2B-style site where you can streamline communication and information,” Trey Holder, Retail Gateway president, told DSN in a preview of the new offering. The websites will be able to stream videos, host press releases and even host social media feeds. “It’s a real [efficient] way to keep your sales network up-to-date and also connect with your retail base.”
The supplier page also hosts an overview of the company and contact information, Holder said. “If a retailer looks at a product and wants to see who the manufacturer is, it would take them to that manufacturer’s page,” Holder said. “And they can follow [that supplier] through YouTube, Facebook and Twitter right off of that [landing page].”
The site is actually live now, Holder said, and features upward of 800 products.
The supplier page also features a catalog of all products. “It acts as a cataloguing system,” Holder noted. Each product image can take the retailer to a specific product page featuring how-to videos, detailed product descriptions and merchandising vehicle pictures.
Vendors hosting a page on the website are better able to reach their specific category buyers by toggling which categories their products fall into. Also, vendors can restrict certain channels of retail from accessing their sites.
And suppliers can forward the link to their pages to prospective retail buyers to help promote their products.
The site also restricts access to retailers so that sensitive trade information can be protected, though a suppliers’ sales network can access the site for real-time updates.
While GMDC members enjoy a discount on the program, membership is not mandatory, Holder said. However, all applying to participate, either as a vendor or a retailer, are vetted before gaining access to the site, he said.