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  2. 2010
  3. October
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  5. Ag Inputs - Retailer Survey - NP

Ag Inputs - Retailer Survey - NP

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Thank you for your participation in this survey. When considering answers for the following questions, please provide answers that correspond only to your individual retail location. If you are a manager for multiple retail locations, please provide information corresponding to a typical individual retail store.

Be assured that ALL of your responses will be kept completely confidential. Neither your name nor your outlet's name will be included with any responses you provide.

As we indicated, we will send you $50 and a summary of results as a 'thank you' for taking the time to complete these questions. Upon finishing all the questions, please provide an address for where the check should be sent.
 
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* Please choose the one job category that best describes what you do.
 
General Manager
 
Division Manager
 
Agronomy Manager
 
Agronomist/Consultant
 
Owner
 
Other
 
 
 
 
* Which classification below best describes your company?
 
Cooperative retailer
 
Publicly-owned (non-cooperative) retailer
 
Privately-owned (non-cooperative/independent) retailer
 
Retail joint venture of a private/public firm and a cooperative
 
 
 
* What is the number of retail outlets owned or manged by your parent company year-round?
   
* What is the number of seasonal or temporaty outlets owned or manged by your parent company?
   
 
 
How many employees work in agronomy at your retail store? Please include only your retail location when providing figures for number of employees.
Management Sales Agronomists Other
* Number of employees at your location
 
 
 
What was the approximate annual revenue for your retail store in 2009 in dollars ($$)?
$    
How much of this relates to agronomy business (fertilizer, seeds, crop protection products and services) in dollars ($$)?
$    
 
 
For the following product segments, please indicate the percent of contribution towards your total annual revenue.
Fertilizer Seeds Crop Protection Services Other
* % of total revenue contibution
 
 
Please approximate your gross margin range on the following ag input product categories.
0% <1-3% 4-7% 8-10% 11-13% 14-16% 17-19% 20%+
* Fertilizer products
* Seed products
* Crop protection
 
 
 
* What approximate percentage of your customer’s acreage is planted with the following crops?

The total percent, shown at the bottom of the list, should add to 100%.
Alfalfa
%
Canola
%
Corn
%
Feed grain
%
Hay
%
Pasture
%
Soybean
%
Sunflower
%
Vegetable
%
Wheat
%
Other
%
0
Values must add up to 100
 
 
 
* If you could draw a circle that surrounds 80% of your customer’s locations, what is the approximate radius (in miles)?
   miles
* How many total farmers are located in that area?
   farmers
* How many of them do you consider to be your customer?
   are customers
 
 
What is your retail stores volume and revenue per ton for each of the following fertilizer products (please include only product revenue without service revenue)?
Tons/Year Revenue/Year in $$ Don't Sell (X)
Wet bulk fertilizer
Dry bulk fertilizer
Packaged fertilizer
Anhydrous ammonia
 
 
What is the total inventory capacity for each of the following products at your retail location?
Storage Capacity Don't Sell (X)
Wet bulk fertilizer (tons)
Dry bulk fertilizer (tons)
Packaged fertilizer (tons)
Anhydrous ammonia (units)
Seed corn (units)
Soybean seed (units)
 
 
What is the approximate distance to your primary supply distribution point for each of the following product categories?
0-25 miles 26-50 miles 51-75 miles 76-100 miles 101-150 miles 151-200 miles Over 200 miles
* Fertilizer products
* Seed products
* Crop protection products
 
 
 
* How do you source your fertilizer?
 
Straight from the manufacturer to my retail location
 
From central warehouse/ inventory holding location owned by my company or co-op
 
From wholesaler
 
Don't sell fertilizer
 
Other
 
 
 
 
* Please indicate the methods you take shipments of input products. Please select all that apply.
 
Rail deliveries direct to our location (single car transfer)
 
Rail unit-trains direct to our location (unit car processing)
 
Truck deliveries direct to our location
 
Barge deliveries direct to our location (we have a river transfer)
 
Other
 

 
 
Please indicate the level of competition between retailers in your area in each of the following categories. Use the scale below where 1 means there is no competition between retailers in your area and 10 means there is intense competition.
1 -No Competition 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -Intense Competition
* Product prices
* Price of services
* Quality of services
* Product quality
* Quality of information
 
 
Dealers play a number of roles for farmers/customers. Please rate how important each of the roles listed below are for retailers to remain competitive.
Not Important Minimally Important Moderately Important Important Very Important
* Maintain records of crop inputs and yields for local farmers
* Ensure compliance with government regulations
* Help farmers make correct choices for crop inputs
* On-going crop management services
* Access to products from variety of manufacturers
* Provide farmers with information about products/service usage
* Provide farmers with a local inventory source for crop inputs
* Provide credit to farmers for in-season purchases (short-term financing)
* Provide credit to farmers for the full season (long-term financing)
* Product application services
 
 
For the next few questions we would like you to assign points indictating the relative importance of a set of items. Please allocate 100 points across the items listed. You can allocate anywhere from 0 to 100 points to an item as long as the total adds to 100. Please note that there is a running total for the points allocated at the bottom of the list.


* Dealers also play a number of roles for manufacturers/ producers; please indicate how important each of these roles are for retailers to remain competitive.

Please allocated 100 points across the items to indicate the relative importance of each item.
Educate farmers on products
Introduce farmers to new products
Provide supplier with customer data
Provide supplier with product feedback
Local inventory storage for supplier
0
Values must add up to 100
 
 
 
* How important are the following considerations for a farmer in deciding which fertilizer products to purchase?

Please allocated 100 points across the items to indicate the relative importance of each item.
Retailer’s recommendation
Price
Quality/ consistency
Performance/ crop yield
Availability
Brand of product
0
Values must add up to 100
 
 
 
* How important are the following considerations for a farmer in deciding which seed products to purchase?

Please allocated 100 points across the items to indicate the relative importance of each item.
Retailer’s recommendation
Price
Quality/ consistency
Performance/ crop yield
Availability
Brand of product
0
Values must add up to 100
 
 
 
* How important are the following considerations for a farmer in deciding which crop protection products to purchase?

Please allocated 100 points across the items to indicate the relative importance of each item.
Retailer’s recommendation
Price
Quality/ consistency
Performance/ crop yield
Availability
Brand of product
0
Values must add up to 100
 
 
 
* How important are the following in how you decide which fertilizer supplier’s products to stock at your retail location?

Please allocated 100 points across the items to indicate the relative importance of each item.
Customer demands
Relationship with supplier
Quality/ consistency
Performance/ crop yield
Price
Brand of product
Availability
0
Values must add up to 100
 
 
 
* How important are the following in how you decide which seed supplier’s products to stock at your retail location?

Please allocated 100 points across the items to indicate the relative importance of each item.
Customer demands
Relationship with supplier
Quality/ consistency
Performance/ crop yield
Price
Brand of product
Availability
0
Values must add up to 100
 
 
 
* How important are the following in how you decide which crop protection product supplier’s products to stock at your retail location?

Please allocated 100 points across the items to indicate the relative importance of each item.
Customer demands
Relationship with supplier
Quality/ consistency
Performance/ crop yield
Price
Brand of product
Availability
0
Values must add up to 100
 
 
 
* When making product recommendations to your customer, how important are the following factors in your consideration?

Please allocated 100 points across the items to indicate the relative importance of each item.
Your profit margin per unit
Relationship with supplier
Supplier incentives
Performance/ crop yield
Price
Brand of product
Inventory management
0
Values must add up to 100
 
 
How often does a representative from your retail store contact a typical customer to discuss field conditions and product performance? For each phase of the crop season, please indicate the number of visits.
* Pre-planting
* Planting
* Growing season
* Harvest
* Post-harvest
 
 
Please indicate the degree to which you agree or disagree with each of the following statements:
Completely Disagree Disagree Somewhat Disagree Somewhat Agree Agree Completely Agree
* If we stock-out, or run out of inventory for a specific product, we will recommend an alternative product to avoid missing a sale
* If we have excess inventory of a product, we offer price incentives to our customers to increase sales
* Product availability and inventory levels are key considerations in making product recommendations for our customers
* Farmers recognize significant product differentiation between brands of crop protection products
* Farmers recognize significant product differentiation between brands of seed products
* Farmers recognize significant product differentiation between brands of fertilizer products
* Product profitability is a big consideration in making product recommendations for our customers
 
 
Please indicate the degree to which you agree or disagree with each of the following statements in relation to your fertilizer products
Completely Disagree Disagree Somewhat Disagree Somewhat Agree Agree Completely Agree
* A partnership/ closer relationship with my suppliers is an opportunity for increased profitability and service
* We provide our most profitable customers with higher levels of service than our less profitable customers
* We provide all of our customers with the same level of service
* The services (i.e. market research, field support) provided by a supplier are very important in selecting which brands to carry
* Our relationship with a supplier’s customer representative is very important in selecting which brands to carry
* Our proximity to a suppliers distribution warehouses is very important in selecting which brands to carry
 
 
Please indicate the degree to which you agree or disagree with each of the following statements in relation to your seed products
Completely Disagree Disagree Somewhat Disagree Somewhat Agree Agree Completely Agree
* A partnership/ closer relationship with my suppliers is an opportunity for increased profitability and service
* We provide our most profitable customers with higher levels of service than our less profitable customers
* Our relationship with a supplier’s customer representative is very important in selecting which brands to carry
* Our proximity to a suppliers distribution warehouses is very important in selecting which brands to carry
* The services (i.e. market research, field support) provided by a supplier are very important in selecting which brands to carry
* We provide all of our customers with the same level of service
 
 
Please indicate the degree to which you agree or disagree with each of the following statements in relation to your crop protection products
Completely Disagree Disagree Somewhat Disagree Somewhat Agree Agree Completely Agree
* Our relationship with a supplier’s customer representative is very important in selecting which brands to carry
* We provide all of our customers with the same level of service
* A partnership/ closer relationship with my suppliers is an opportunity for increased profitability and service
* Our proximity to a suppliers distribution warehouses is very important in selecting which brands to carry
* We provide our most profitable customers with higher levels of service than our less profitable customers
* The services (i.e. market research, field support) provided by a supplier are very important in selecting which brands to carry
 
 
Please indicate the level of the following competitive threats to your retail business in the next 1-3 years.
No Threat Minimal Threat Some Threat Moderate Threat Major Threat
* Competitors in a desperate struggle to remain in business
* Internet sales of product to your customers at lower prices
* Wholesale/Broker type sales with your customers at lower prices
 
 
Please indicate the level of the following threats from customers to your retail business in the next 1-3 years.
No Threat Minimal Threat Some Threat Moderate Threat Major Threat
* Farm consolidation; increased grower buying power
* Tightening credit; difficult financial markets
* Farmers grouping together for purchasing supplies to increase buying power
* Farmers providing custom application services to other farmers; eliminating retailer
* Farmers requiring less and less services from retailers; able to do custom applications on their own
 
 
Please indicate the level of the following threats from manufacturers/ distributors to your retail business in the next 1-3 years.
No Threat Minimal Threat Some Threat Moderate Threat Major Threat
* Continued growth of generic crop protection products
* Distributor consolidation; increased supplier power
* Manufacturer consolidation; increased supplier power
* Reduced program payments from basic crop protection manufacturers
* Elimination of the middle man; manufacturers selling direct to farmers
 
 
Please indicate the level of the following general threats to your retail business in the next 1-3 years.
No Threat Minimal Threat Some Threat Moderate Threat Major Threat
* Insurance cost and availability
* Our access and ability to hire quality employees/ labor
* Energy costs (electric and gas)
* Regulations on storing and handling crop input products
* Management of accounts receivable/ credit
 
 
How many unique seed varieties (size, traits…etc) does your retail location offer customers for each of the following crops?
# of Varieties Don't Sell (X)
Seed corn
Soybean seed
Wheat seed
 
 
 
* How important are the following for you to consider in forecasting demand and ordering inventory for fertilizer products?

Please allocated 100 points across the items to indicate the relative importance of each item.
Historical sales data
Customer surveys
Yield forecasts
Commodity price forecasts
Test plots performance
0
Values must add up to 100
 
 
 
* How important are the following for you to consider in forecasting demand and ordering inventory for seed products?

Please allocated 100 points across the items to indicate the relative importance of each item.
Historical sales data
Customer surveys
Yield forecasts
Commodity price forecasts
Test plots performance
0
Values must add up to 100
 
 
 
* How important are the following for you to consider in forecasting demand and ordering inventory for crop protection products?

Please allocated 100 points across the items to indicate the relative importance of each item.
Historical sales data
Customer surveys
Yield forecasts
Commodity price forecasts
Test plots performance
0
Values must add up to 100
 
 
 
* How important are the following for you to consider in forecasting demand and ordering inventory of new products?

Please allocated 100 points across the items to indicate the relative importance of each item.
Customer surveys
Yield forecasts
Local test plot results
Supplier support
0
Values must add up to 100
 
 
 
* Please assign 100 points to the three product categories below to refletct the relative effort that you put into forecasting demand for each.

Please allocated 100 points across the items to reflect the relative effort put into each.
Fertilizer
Seeds
Crop protection products
0
Values must add up to 100
 
 
Please indicate the degree to which you agree or disagree with each of the following statements.
Completely Disagree Disagree Somewhat Disagree Somewhat Agree Agree Completely Agree
* We systematically try to minimize inventory holding costs by aligning our inventory levels with demand at all times
* In determining our inventory levels, we would rather run out of a product before the end of the season than have product left-over and carried to the following year
* We would accept early product shipments from suppliers if payments were delayed allowing us to have product on hand, and suppliers to buffer their supply chain
* We use an electronic interface (customer database) to keep track of inventory and customer orders
* We would pay a premium on input products to insulate ourselves from price volatility (price lock-in before season)
* We stock whatever products our customer’s need, without considering profitability.
* If we have left over crop protection inventory, we hold it until the following season without loss of quality.
* When we have left-over fertilizer at years-end, we hold the inventory until the following season with no degradation in quality
 
 
 
* Please indicate the approximate percent of your total annual inventory volume of fertilizer that you order during each of the following time periods.

Please note that the percentages must add to 100%.
September/October
%
November/December
%
January/February
%
March/April
%
May/June
%
July/August
%
0
Values must add up to 100
 
 
 
* Please assign 100 points to the five considerations below to reflect the relative importance of each on the timing of your fertilizer orders.

Please allocated 100 points across the items to reflect the relative importance of each.
Supplier discounts
Price volatility
Product availability
Payment terms
Cost to hold inventory
0
Values must add up to 100
 
 
 
* Please indicate the approximate percent of your total annual inventory volume of seed that you order during each of the following time periods.

Please note that the percentages must add to 100%.
September/October
%
November/December
%
January/February
%
March/April
%
May/June
%
July/August
%
0
Values must add up to 100
 
 
 
* Please assign 100 points to the five considerations below to reflect the relative importance of each on the timing of your seed orders.

Please allocated 100 points across the items to reflect the relative importance of each.
Supplier discounts
Price volatility
Product availability
Payment terms
Cost to hold inventory
0
Values must add up to 100
 
 
 
* Please indicate the approximate percent of your total annual inventory volume of crop protection that you order during each of the following time periods.

Please note that the percentages must add to 100%.
September/October
%
November/December
%
January/February
%
March/April
%
May/June
%
July/August
%
0
Values must add up to 100
 
 
 
* Please assign 100 points to the five considerations below to reflect the relative importance of each on the timing of your crop protection orders.

Please allocated 100 points across the items to reflect the relative importance of each.
Supplier discounts
Price volatility
Product availability
Payment terms
Cost to hold inventory
0
Values must add up to 100
 
 
What are the typical lead times you experience when restocking inventory (time between order placement and delivery) for the following products during planting season and during growing season? Please indicate the number of days.
Lead Time During Planting Season (days) Lead Time During Growing Season (days)
* Fertilizer
* Seeds
* Crop protection
 
 
 
* Are you interested in participating in market research studies like this one again? Would you like to become part of the Ag Retailer Research Panel developed by One Source? Throughout the year One Source conducts research within various segments of the ag industry including the retail segment. Future projects could involve contacting you by phone, mail or e-mail in order to have you participate. To aid in that process, we are continuing to build a panel of ag retailers who would participate in the various studies conducted by One Source. Your partipation in any of the projects you would be contacted for would be at your discretion. If you are interested in becoming part of this panel and being contacted a little more often, please select “Yes” below and we will gather some contact information from you. If you don’t want to be part of the Ag Retailer Research Panel, just select “No” below.
 
Yes, I am willing to be a panel member
 
No, I'd rather not join
 
 
Please enter your contact information below to be part of the One Source Ag Retailer Research Panel.

As with all research projects conducted by One Source your name will be kept completely confidential and never tied to any responses you may provide. Furthermore, any information you provide here will be kept by One Source and only be used to identify retailers in selected states or who may sell certain products or services or work with specific crops, and used only on research projects conducted by One Source.

First Name:
Last Name:
Title:
Company:
Address:
City:
State:
Zip code:
Phone number with area code:
e-mail address:
 
 
Thanks for taking the time to complete these questions. As we had indicated we would like to send $50 to you as a 'thank you' for taking part in this project along with a summary of the results from this survey. Please complete the information below which will be used to create and mail a check to you. The summary of results will be e-mailed to you.
* First Name : 
* Last Name : 
* Address 1 : 
   Address 2 : 
* City : 
* State : 
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