Distributor eCommerce Now 20% of Sales and Accelerating

Why the Fast Growth in Channel Shift?

This is a big uptick in the rate of ecommerce adoption. As I studied the data, four potential drivers came to mind:

• Predictions of a post-COVID slump in online usage didn’t materialize for distributors. Instead, all those folks who got used to buying online when they didn’t have a choice have embraced the channel and – apparently – talked their coworkers into joining the digital customer club.

• Those millions of dollars distributors have spent building out websites, apps, product data, ERP integrations, marketing campaigns and digital teams are paying off.

• The attribution model is changing. We’ve been hammering away with the message that websites generate lots of sales besides what goes through the shopping cart – distributor customers frequently shop on websites but buy by email or phone a lot more often than they complete the purchase online.

• Demographics are changing. Some people argue that the channel shift is occurring because customers are getting younger (well, not exactly – no one gets younger. Older customers are retiring and being replaced by younger people). These younger people are allegedly averse to salespeople.¹

Okay, so why is distributor ecommerce suddenly growing so rapidly? Let me summarize and alliterate the four possibilities:

• Pandemic purchasing produced permanent online buying.
• Technology tools turned into capabilities buyers love.
• Accurate attribution accelerated the ability to measure results.
• Demographic developments drove increased share of ecommerce.

How can we apportion how much each of these trends is contributing to the accelerating growth? I have no idea, plus I might be missing some drivers – if you can think of any, please let me know in the comments.

But, I Can Tell You This…

If you still believe your customers aren’t interested in digital capabilities, you’re probably from Colorado or another state where marijuana is legal, because you’re smoking something and it ain’t reality. If my 86-year-old mother-in-law can bring her snark to Facebook², your customers of all ages can embrace digital capabilities to make their jobs easier and their companies more profitable.

How to Join the Digital Success Bandwagon

In my early days in distribution, the experts told us to set up the ecommerce department with a separate P&L and operate it as its own division. Today, experts tell us that B2B websites should be like B2C websites. We can now say with confidence that none of these experts were experts because all of this is nonsense.

Your website should be designed to drive sales through all channels. That’s a whole different design than a website designed to drive all visitors to the shopping cart. Your attribution shouldn’t be limited to shopping-cart sales – that’s the smallest part of the revenue driven by many distributors’ sites.

If you need clarity on this, feel free to hire me to keynote your next event (that costs a million dollars. Everything we do is a million dollars). Or you can drop me a note and I’ll send you links to content we’ve produced that explains all of this in detail. Which, like all of our content, is free. (I suggest the keynote alternative.)

In any case, make sure you sign up for our 2023 State of eCommerce in Distribution webinar  to see all of the survey results – more than 400 distributor executives responded. 

Distribution buyer behavior is changing quickly. It’s hard for us to keep up and we do this for a living. Let us help you keep up, too.

¹On the other hand, I’ve talked to distributor CEOs who’ve told me that the young people need sales reps more than the employees who retired. The retirees knew everything about their jobs, companies, products and technical issues while the replacements do not.

²My sister-in-law: “I wanted to share this picture of the beautiful flowers in my garden.” My mother-in-law: “Nothing lives forever.”