[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2014\/11\/12\/manufacturers-and-distributors-the-age-of-customer-engagement-is-now\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2014\/11\/12\/manufacturers-and-distributors-the-age-of-customer-engagement-is-now\/","headline":"Manufacturers and distributors: Meet the customer engagement era","name":"Manufacturers and distributors: Meet the customer engagement era","description":"Now more than ever, manufacturers and distributors must realize that their customers are in the driver\u2019s seat to engage them. ","datePublished":"2014-11-12","dateModified":"2025-09-10","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/dietmar-bohn\/#Person","name":"Dietmar Bohn","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/dietmar-bohn\/","identifier":147,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1a32b307e62b556b047f9c46b6c4d6b18d03ba2620af53742a7f61fc3a1c2fb8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1a32b307e62b556b047f9c46b6c4d6b18d03ba2620af53742a7f61fc3a1c2fb8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Future of Commerce","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","width":172,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/manufacturers-engagement.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/manufacturers-engagement.jpg","height":378,"width":1200},"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2014\/11\/12\/manufacturers-and-distributors-the-age-of-customer-engagement-is-now\/","about":[{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/commerce\/b2b\/","name":"B2B Commerce","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/B2B_e-commerce"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/marketing\/customer-engagement-marketing\/","name":"Customer Engagement","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Customer_engagement","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q5196451"]},"Industrial Manufacturing",{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/commerce\/industries\/","name":"Industries","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Industry","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q2976602"]},"Industries",{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/commerce\/omnichannel-commerce\/","name":"Omnichannel Commerce","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Omnichannel"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/commerce\/trends-commerce\/","name":"Trends","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fad","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q787045"]}],"wordCount":466,"keywords":["B2B","Customer Engagement","Distributors","E-commerce","Manufacturing"],"articleBody":"Now more than ever, manufacturers and distributors realize that their customers are in the driver\u2019s seat. Customers define which channels (direct, in-direct, call centers, will-calls, in-store, wholesaling, e-commerce, and others) they want to use and what experiences are most valued as part of their own customer journey – from initial engagement to ongoing service and support.Gone are the days of lengthy cycles of building customer loyalty. Advocacy is being built and traded in a matter of seconds. The \u201cInternet of me\u201d trend isn\u2019t slowing down and will likely extend to the \u201comni-channel experience of me\u201d as customers continue to expect \u2013 and demand \u2013 highly relevant, personalized and interactive engagements when and where they want them.Recently SAP partnered with Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council, a well-established thought leader, to gauge how both B2B and B2C organizations were mastering their customer experience and engagement journey. The survey findings, from 319 senior marketing executives in North America, reveal the importance of delivering the best possible customer experience, but also that they face a number of challenges or gaps in doing so.The top 5 challenges (across all three i.e. people, processes, and platforms) are:Establishing a customer-centric cultureAligning cross-functional teams to work togetherEstablishing business processes to track customer experiencePrioritizing customer experience strategyHiring the right talent to executeThe survey also points to 3 key shifts that organizations need to make to master the customer engagement opportunity:Get a single source of customer truth \u2013 45% say there is no unified view of the customer across the organizationKnow your customer\u2019s whole experience \u2013 56% say customer touchpoints are not integrated around a core experience strategyBe ready to shift with the customer \u2013 only 6% say their organizations are agile and ready to adapt to customer needsCapitalize on the customer engagement opportunityMore than half of respondents have either not calculated or just don\u2019t know how customer experience has impacted their company\u2019s revenue.However, of the 22 percent who have made the calculation, 60 per cent say they have increased revenue. Of this group, 25 percent say revenue has increased in excess of 5 percent.Marketing leaders at manufacturing and distribution companies, have an incredible opportunity to help their organizations adapt to this new wave of customer engagement. While customer centricity is established at the very top of the organization, it is the CMO who is at the helm of translating that definition into a holistic strategy that the entire organization (e.g. customer service, sales and IT) can rally around. By implementing the core foundational principles of customer experience success, organizations can more rapidly advance strategies to stay ahead of customer needs and growing expectations.  B2B buyers want a B2C experience \u2013that’s why top sellers are using a hybrid commerce game plan.Get it HERE."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2014","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2014\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"11","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2014\/\/11\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"12","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2014\/\/11\/\/12\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Manufacturers and distributors: Meet the customer engagement era","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2014\/11\/12\/manufacturers-and-distributors-the-age-of-customer-engagement-is-now\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]