Promodata can help Promotional Products Distributors close more deals.

For Distributors

Promodata harmonises supplier data by taking each format of supplier data and converting it into a single type.
This makes it much easier to manage and process. 
Available for use by APPA Member Promotional Product Distributors

Every time a distributor finds pricing and stock availability online,
it saves them at least one email or phone call and the time associated with it
.

Gain Time

A recent APPA member industry survey highlighted that 58% of a distributors time is spent on admin. Most of this is handling supplier promotional product data. Keeping supplier data up to date on a distributor’s website is a huge ongoing manual task.

As a result most distributor’s websites contain discontinued products or wrong pricing data.

Correct Errors

Research suggests that up to 66% of distributor purchase orders contain incorrect or missing information. As a result a lot of time is spent by both suppliers and distributors correcting these mistakes.

Mis-information means orders are either immediately on-hold, sitting in a pile, awaiting a response (while the clock ticks and deadlines loom) or orders are produced with errors.

Why is this so?

It’s because supplier data comes in formats using terminology relevant to the supplier. One decoration toone supplier may be defined differently by another. Quantity breaks vary, production times vary, someitems are custom made some are not.
The list goes on.
Promodata is a universal language translator. It harmonises supplier data by taking each format of supplier data and converting it into a single type.
This makes it much easier to manage and process. 

The Instant World

The promotional product world is changing. Amazon and e-commerce has change the expectations of customers. Instant online pricing, ordering, production updates and job tracking are expected as standard by today’s everyday customers. It happens every day in the online world but these things are rare in the promotional product world. 
But the rise of apps that can integrate through API’s are making things possible for the first time. Change is here to stay and those distributors that embrace it will save costs, improve efficiency and make more sales.

The benefits of Promodata!

Websites

It’s no secret that keeping a distributors website updated with current products along with pricing (if displayed) is a huge and onerous task. Manually loading product images, descriptions, decoration options etc. takes an enormous amount of time. As such most distributors don’t bother preferring to send clients alternative products when they receive a quote request.
Promodata can sync with a distributors website and update any products that the supplier has changed in the past 24 hours. Discontinued products can be automatically removed and pricing updated.

Quoting

Search for & access all products available in Promodata without limitations.

As this feed includes product info and images it saves an immense amount of time when preparing informative sales proposals for your clients.

All data on Promodata is provided and managed by each supplier – it is as they intended.

API connected product info & pricing is checked against supplier’s data every 24 hours.
This makes for more accuracy and less mistakes quoting.

Customer Service

Promodata improves customer service by providing distributors easy access to the information needed to place, manage, and complete orders.
From quoting out to invoicing, distributors are automatically provided the information they need for the order lifecycle.

Distributor Pricing

Distributor Trial API Feed

A limited access API feed is available for testing website/platform integration

Free

Distributor Platforms

For internal cloud-based business systems and quoting platforms

$100

/ month
+ GST (AUD)

Distributor Websites

For consumer/public facing websites
(Multi-site discount is available)

$100

/ month
+ GST (AUD)

Distributor Integration with Promodata

The team at Promodata are here to assist with distributor integrations. It may initially seem daunting forsome, but whether data is added to a website manually, uploading a spreadsheet or via API – it’s the same data and the only difference is the automation that goes with it. 

Distributors will need to work with their website developer to make the best use of Promodata. 

The process is generally as follows:

  • From the data stream identify which supplier products are required .
  • Decide which information you want displayed (pricing or not) etc.
  • Decide how it is to be displayed. 
  • Use API to login to Promodata and update products as and when required. 
  • Products will be check and updated automatically. 
  • New products can be identified and either added or ignored. 
  • Product categories and sub-categories may need adding or modifying depending on distributors website configuration. 

Distributor Resources

These documents are available to APPA Members on request

  • Distributor Promodata Agreement.
  • Promodata API information
  • APPA Data Spreadsheet