Why Distributors Must Have an E-Commerce Site

The September issue of Industrial Supply Magazine has an important article discussing why it is no longer a question of if a distributor needs an e-commerce presence, but how to do it or how to make the site you have better.

According to research from the CEB Marketing Leadership Council, B-to-B buyers contact a supplier when 57% of the purchase process is already complete. That means having accurate and complete product information is important regardless of what channel gets the actual sale.

B-to-B distributors face online pressures from two key areas:

•Traditional competitors that have made the multi-channel transformation
•Nontraditional new competitors that may be selling into your space, such as, Amazon, Alibaba, or eBay

While distributors often have unique value propositions compared to the new threats, make no mistake, these are real and credible competitive threats.

Check out Industrial Supply Magazine’s great article on why distributors must have an e-commerce site.