Distributor eCommerce Now 20 Percent of Sales and Accelerating

In a recent survey, Distributor Strategy Group found that for distributors that have eCommerce, 19.7% of revenue is coming from digital channels. This survey found this percentage to be an acceleration over 2020(11.6%) and 2021(14.5%) numbers.  

Chief Strategist for Distribution Strategy Group (and Colorado resident), Ian Heller says "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 Facebook, your customers of all ages can embrace digital capabilities to make their jobs easier and their companies more profitable."

This data continues to support the pandemic driven move to online purchasing of B2B goods. "Our distributor client's customer is far more digitally savy then they were just five years ago." reports Layer One's CEO, Chad Albrecht.  "As a result, our client's are demanding a more B2C like experience than ever before"  Albrecht continues "But this doesn't mean we are dealing with people shopping, they are still there to place an order and get back to their day. The more efficient we can make the experience, the better."

While things are trending up, ASA member companies reported that there are still challenges including, product data quality, CSR/OSR support, effective personalization and email marketing.