Better Customer Experience? Distributors Lean Into eCommerce in 2022

Last year, we saw a sharp increase in the adoption of ecommerce due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

eCommerce includes transactions through website, mobile and app but excludes EDI, punchout, email, fax and so on.

As we prepare to unveil the results of our 12^th-annual survey, the 2022 State of eCommerce in Distribution, we’re finding that not only have adoption rates continued to rise, but maturity rates have spiked in 2022. Maturity is measured by the percent of a distributor’s revenue that goes through ecommerce.

• Nascent: Greater than 0%, less than or equal to 5% of revenue
• Development: Greater than 5%, less than or equal to 10% of revenue
• Mature: Greater than 10%, less than or equal to 20% of revenue
• Leader: Greater than 20% of revenue

Ideally, the time you spend in the nascent state of ecommerce maturity is short and sweet. The percentage of respondents with ecommerce still in the nascent phase of maturity fell from 32% to 22% in this latest survey (2021 vs. 2022). That’s a good sign.

In this latest survey, we also saw a massive drive to maturity.

Register now to access part one of our 2022 State of eCommerce in Distribution webinar series.

Sixty-three percent of respondents with ecommerce have more than 10% of their revenue coming from ecommerce. That represents a significant 19% increase in the number of distributors that fall into the mature and leader stages of ecommerce. Thirty-seven percent reported greater than 20% of their revenue comes from ecommerce, which is a 16% increase in distributors that fall into the leader category.

By maturity, 43% of respondents in the hardware segment reported greater than 20% of their revenue would come from ecommerce in 2022; HVACR was next at 39% of respondents. About 36% of respondents in JanSan, a segment leader in ecommerce adoption, reported greater than 20% of their revenue from ecommerce.

The pandemic accelerated the maturing of ecommerce offerings. But what’s fueling the ongoing growth is a focus on providing a better customer experience online. Seventy-one percent of survey respondents placed customer experience as their top or second priority for their ecommerce investments.

That seems to be paying off in the form of more revenue from their ecommerce channel.

To increase the speed by which you move out of the nascent and development stages – and build the customer experience B2B buyers want – distributors must:

• Ensure their foundation is solid, including an analytical customer profile and lifecycle analysis; understanding how their customers want to shop and buy; and establishing a clear value proposition. 
• Create a solid SEO strategy and plan that also includes local SEO.
• Develop a demand-generation strategy, including inbound and outbound components.
• Continually test and measure activities to optimize performance and conversion.
• Provide personalization capabilities. For example, customer-specific pricing is critical. Without it, your ecommerce won’t get off the ground. Consider landing pages or other content to address key customer segments.
• Modify key product content where possible to increase the chance of being found in search engines.
• Improve the user experience by looking at persona journeys, improving Core Web Vitals and optimizing conversions.
• Integrate with other channels. A solid ecommerce initiative provides key information that supports an omnichannel customer experience.
• Add marketing automation to put email communication on steroids by allowing automated campaigns, giving different messages to users depending on their behavior.

In part one of our webinar, we’ll dig into these results and what they mean for you. Register now.