Industrial distribution is at a crossroads as demands from customers for customization and sophisticated e-commerce platforms grow, with maintenance, repair and operations at the center of these expectations.
To weather this “perfect storm,” says Jim Tompkins, CEO of Tompkins International, distributors need to strive for “Multichannel Operations Excellence.”
In an op-ed piece for Industrial Distribution, Tompkins says “MOE” means engaging customers on their own terms and adapting your business to meet those needs, and enabling a customer experience that is interactive, educational, engaging and personal every step of the way, from consideration to conversion.
A great example is W. W. Grainger, which studied its data to find out that many of its customers needed access to its product catalog while in the field. That company rolled out mobile apps to meet that need and have seen a significant chunk of their web traffic increase thanks to that move.