As customer expectations evolve and competitive pressures mount, distributors must embrace digital strategies that enhance efficiency, improve customer experience and drive revenue growth.  

In a recent Distribution Strategy Group distributor panel hosted by Ian Heller, industry experts discussed the key imperatives shaping digital strategy for distributors today.  Our panelists included: 

• Darren Taylor, Technology and Transformation Lead, JonDon 
• Robin McGuire, CIO, Reinders Inc.

Missed the webinar? You can watch it on demand. 

More Than eCommerce 

Many distributors still view digital strategy as simply launching an ecommerce site. McGuire said that is only the beginning. “I think the bigger picture is understanding what customers use our tools for and how can we meet them there.”  

Taylor emphasized that digital strategy must encompass the entire business. Distributors must align technology with customer buying behaviors, whether they’re seeking transactional purchases or engaging in longer sales cycles involving quotes and project planning.

Technology for technology’s sake doesn’t work. As distributors transform, they need to keep the customer at the center. How can you know what matters to customers?

“You ask them directly,” Taylor said.

How to Remain Customer-Centric

As digital transformation accelerates, distributors must ensure their digital strategies align with customer needs. According to our panelists, distributors must: 

Leverage Feedback Loops

Customer satisfaction surveys, website analytics and direct sales conversations help uncover how digital tools support their needs. “You have to ask customers directly, but also talk to your sales teams,” said Taylor. “They interact with customers daily and can provide insights into what’s working and where the friction points are.”   

Recognize Shifting Demographics

With millennials now making up the majority of B2B buyers, digital expectations are shaped by their experiences with B2C ecommerce platforms. “There are still Boomers hanging around, and even some Gen Zs sneaking in,” said McGuire. “If you don’t get to talk to customers directly, you still need to understand their buying behaviors and how they interact with digital tools.”   

Focus on Buying Intent

Not every website visit translates to an online purchase. Many customers use digital platforms for research before completing transactions through email, phone or procurement systems. “People expect things to be simple, and if they know how to use them, they think they are,” Taylor said. “Training your sales teams and customers to fully utilize your digital tools is just as important as the tools themselves.”   

The key is to ensure that digital strategy enhances and doesn’t disrupt the customer experience. By analyzing behaviors, gathering feedback and optimizing digital touchpoints, distributors can create a seamless journey that aligns with real-world buying habits.  

Integrating Customer Experience Across Channels

While customers expect effortless transitions between digital and physical touchpoints, the reality is that delivering a smooth experience requires multiple system integrations.   

“In order to make it as simple as possible for the customer, you have to make it very complex behind the scenes,” said Heller. “If something is really easy for the customer, it was probably hard to build.”   

Distributors must align every touchpoint — from online searches and transactions to in-person sales and service calls — into a unified experience. But where should they focus first?  

Prioritize What Matters Most to the Customer 

“The key is to choose what’s most important to the customer,” Taylor said. “If you look at their entire journey, certain steps are much more critical than others.”  Instead of attempting to overhaul everything at once, Taylor recommended focusing on the most impactful aspects of the buying process.  

For example:   

• Ensuring customers can quickly find and order products whether online, through a sales rep or in a branch.   
• Providing real-time inventory visibility across channels.   
• Offering consistent pricing and a seamless transition between self-service and assisted sales.   

Prioritize Data

While technology makes integration easier, Taylor pointed out that data consistency remains a roadblock. “Deploying technology is becoming faster and faster,” he said. “But the data is what gets you. A lot of the technology or customization is around handling data inconsistencies: exceptions, mismatches and gaps that make seamless integration difficult.” 

McGuire agreed. “Data is the biggest challenge. The technology is working but the data isn’t delivering the results we expect.” The task then becomes standardizing data across those channels. 

Legacy systems often don’t communicate well with modern digital platforms, creating friction in the customer’s experience. This reality is why many distributors are working to simplify their data structures and gradually transition to more flexible architecture.   

The Path Forward

Distributors that want to compete effectively must continue refining their digital strategy to remove friction. This requires:   

• Designing from the outside in: Start with what customers need and work backward to ensure internal systems support those expectations.   
• Eliminating data silos: Standardizing data across platforms to ensure consistency in product availability, pricing and order fulfillment.   
• Investing in automation: Using AI and machine learning to optimize order management, recommend relevant products and predict customer needs.   

The best strategies aren’t about adding more technology; they’re about using the right technology to create a smoother, more intuitive customer journey. As Taylor noted: “An iPhone looks simple but it’s incredibly complex behind the scenes. That’s the kind of experience distributors need to deliver.”   

Measuring the Real Impact of Digital Investments

One of the biggest mistakes distributors make when evaluating their digital strategy is relying solely on ecommerce sales as a measure of success. While shopping cart transactions are an important metric, they don’t tell the full story of how digital platforms influence customer buying behavior.   

“We’ve done the analysis, and only 18% of B2B customers check out through a shopping cart,” said Heller. “That means 82% of the time, they’re using the website for research, building an order and then sending it through email, calling it in or processing it through an internal procurement system. If distributors don’t account for this, they’re drastically underestimating the impact of their digital investments.”   

McGuire shared how their team measures digital success beyond revenue.   

“We don’t just track sales. We look at transaction volume, order-line counts and whether we’re expanding wallet share,” she said. “Are customers buying a broader product mix? Are they using our site as a research tool even if they finalize the order offline? These are the data points that tell us if we’re truly driving digital engagement.”   

Taylor recommended that distributors tie their digital metrics to business outcomes. “You always get what you measure,” he said. “If you only measure shopping cart revenue, you’re missing the bigger picture: customer retention, share of wallet and purchasing frequency.”   

Missed the webinar? You can watch it on demand.