Benjamin Franklin once said, “out of adversity comes great opportunity.” The pandemic sparked a frenzy of distributors exploring e-commerce and marketplace options to grow top-line revenue and expand their customer base. Amid the uncertainty of the past two years, many companies believed they didn’t have the time or resources to add these capabilities, but wholesale e-commerce trends and data tell a different story.
Whether the pandemic fades away or lingers, e-commerce remains table stakes for all distributors.
Modern Distribution Management (MDM) partnered with SAP and Mirakl for an exhaustive look at how distributors view digital sales channels, which resulted in an eye-opening report.
The cumulative result of the study: Distributors that had an e-commerce presence pre-pandemic saw their online revenue grow significantly.
This trend is unlikely to reverse itself, making it imperative for distributors to have a robust e-commerce strategy. Those that do will fare better with customer satisfaction, reduce operational costs, and gain a competitive advantage.
The distributors who continue to prioritize e-commerce have and will continue to emerge as leaders in the space.
Find out how B2B industries like manufacturing and high tech transformed amid the pandemic. Manufacturers had an important realization: Your buying experience should be simple, even if your products aren’t. This is a valuable takeaway for every industry.
In the process of surveying distributors, we learned that some companies are making progress on their e-commerce capabilities, but many are still in their infancy. And when it comes to marketplaces, some distributors have created their own marketplace or are still looking into it, but industry-wide adoption has yet to be embraced.
According to a recent B2B Buyer’s Survey from Digital Commerce 360, 40% of B2B buyers purchase at least 50% of their company’s purchases on marketplaces.
One state of e-commerce survey participant described their secret sauce to increase market share as “being a leader in the implementation of a marketplace strategy.”
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Nearly 21% of distributors reported that e-commerce sales now account for 20% to 30% of total revenues. Conversely, the percentage of distributors that said little of their revenue comes from e-commerce activity shrank dramatically.
In 2021, 33% of distributors said that e-commerce accounted for less than 10% of their total sales. Looking back to 2020, 42% of distributors said that e-commerce accounted for less than 10% of their total sales.
Survey data shows that from 2011 to 2017 the number of distributors experiencing 10% or less of their revenue from e-commerce fluctuated from 65% to 79% each year.
This trend makes it imperative that wholesale distributors have a robust e-commerce strategy.
Consumer products companies need to get ready for more change as consumer preferences continue to shift and the market becomes even more competitive.
A top focus area and trend for wholesale e-commerce distributors is search functionality, with more than 40% planning to invest in AI-powered search for personalized results.
In addition, search engine optimization (SEO) is considered an important investment area for organic search results.
SEO is not only an instrument to attract new customers, but it also raises brand awareness. Even if the online store isn’t the main sales channel (yet), it will be a key instrument for product and services sales in the not-too-distant future.
As more and more B2B buyers prefer buying online and seek the same personalized customer experience that they enjoy on B2C sites, having an e-commerce site is essential.
Understanding and learning SEO methodologies that'll help your site rank for relevant terms isn't a job for the faint of heart - and those who can do this are in high demand today. Learn all about the future of SEO and the Google Page Experience update.
The impact of COVID-19 on e-commerce investments by distributors in 2020 and 2021 cannot be understated.
Think ya got e-commerce game? Get competitive and find out in this 60 second quiz!
Digitally driven purchases are the new normal in most industries and a robust e-commerce program will be a key differentiator for any distributor wishing to remain competitive or be an industry leader. Those that don’t will be laggards, doomed to a fate of constantly trying to catch up.
