More than Traditional Industrial Manufacturer – Distributor Relationships
Even in the industrial sales channel, e-commerce has been a disruptive force in the traditional supply chain. Today’s buyers are accustomed to having the same detailed data in the workplace as they do in online home purchases. They expect everything from immediate access to pricing, product availability and tracking of the in-route precise location of their order.
It has been reported that e-commerce giant Amazon Business’s B2B operation is targeting industrial distributor Grainger's position in the industrial supply market. This is not to say Amazon will displace the major industrial distribution channel, but it does suggest that industrial distributors need to offer e-commerce for popular products and leverage some of the strengths behind the sophisticated communication it brings. This suggests emulating the approach and digital tactics that make e-commerce companies successful.
- Manufacturers and distributors should adopt some of the effective strategies of e-commerce when it comes to their own digital communications.
- Industrial manufacturers and distributors are known to be highly efficient in managing the supply chain for the end user. However, by employing some of e-commerce’s strategies they can more effectively up-sell and cross-sell their customers with other digital technologies.
- As distributors put emphasis on the strategies of e-commerce platforms they will have a higher level of expertise in data-driven business development.
This blog is an excerpt from our latest whitepaper, How Industrial Manufacturers Use Technology to Partner with Distributors. Click here or on the link below to download your free whitepaper!
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