Business Strategy & Innovation

  • What the Executive Suite Needs to Know About Marketing Automation

    What the Executive Suite Needs to Know About Marketing Automation

    To be successful, you need to make the case that your plan serves the company’s – and management’s – best interests. Emphasize results, not features, and be ready to make your business case with numbers and support from your counterparts in sales, customer success, and other stakeholders.

  • How Millennials Shop and Buy in a B2B Setting

    How Millennials Shop and Buy in a B2B Setting

    Millennials now outnumber Boomers and GenX in the work force (see Figure 1.)  In 4 years they will significantly outnumber Boomers and along with GenZ will significantly outnumber GenX.  That means that the majority of the workforce will have grown up in the digital era.

  • Results from the 2016 Distributor Marketing Survey

    Results from the 2016 Distributor Marketing Survey

    Distribution Strategy Group conducted an electronic survey with Modern Distribution Management in September 2016 of 425 participants to better understand trends in distribution marketing.

  • E-Commerce Platform Considerations for B-to-B Distributors

    E-Commerce Platform Considerations for B-to-B Distributors

    The type of products sold online have a factor, with MRO products generally having higher online adoption. However, the biggest and most important factor for a successful e-commerce adoption – and growth velocity – is having a strong strategic plan for the digital sales channel.

  • The ROI Case for E-Commerce

    The ROI Case for E-Commerce

    Research from the previously published annual 2015 State of E-Commerce Study indicates that more than 41 percent of distributors are generating less than 5 percent of revenue through e-commerce.

  • Why Distributors Must Have an E-Commerce Site

    Why Distributors Must Have an E-Commerce Site

    B-to-B purchasing is experiencing a major shift toward a multichannel model with an online focus. Online firms, such as Amazon, have elevated our expectation of how a transaction is completed.

  • What The Avengers: Age of Ultron Taught Me About Improving Distributor Profitability

    What The Avengers: Age of Ultron Taught Me About Improving Distributor Profitability

    Distributors tend to be experts in products and the market niches they serve. We often see distributors being very good at several aspects of the business. If there is a weakness (from another superhero, think kryptonite), it’s that marketing may not be a priority. Is marketing the kryptonite of your business?

  • 2012 State of Distributor Merchandising

    2012 State of Distributor Merchandising

    Although e-commerce initiatives are front and center for many distributors today, in-store revenue remains essential. Yet most distributors with walk-in trade place limited emphasis on in-store marketing and merchandising.

  • Good Product Data: The Oxygen for Catalogs and E-Commerce

    Good Product Data: The Oxygen for Catalogs and E-Commerce

    Good product data is crucial for any successful distributor catalog or e-commerce website. This includes accurate and complete specifications of products as well as clean photos, related items, and substitute products.

  • Print Catalogs: Why They Are Alive and Well

    Print Catalogs: Why They Are Alive and Well

    Distributor measurements of effectiveness primarily include return on marketing investment, customer retention and lifetime value, and secondarily include share of wallet and internal rate of return. Furthermore, nearly 80 percent of distributors have gather customer feedback on catalog effectiveness.