Distributors face challenges in e-commerce

The B2C retail world has increasingly become a digital one, with new, disruptive industry forces like global giant Amazon.com grabbing an ever-increasing share of the market. But distributors and wholesalers – the key components of the B2B marketplace – have as a group not followed B2C into e-commerce. In fact, according to a new survey and report from MDM, majority of distributors and wholesalers earned less than 5 percent of sales from e-commerce, and over 75 percent had less than 10 percent of their revenues coming from e-commerce.

The survey collected responses from more than 400 respondents in wholesale distribution and manufacturing, with most of the respondents identifying as wholesaler-distributors representing various industries. Sixty six percent of the respondents were involved in the industrial sector, 37 percent each in electrical and safety products, and other major groups are from the HVAC/plumbing and hardware industries.

While most distributors do not expect e-commerce to be a significant sales tool in 2015 – 42 percent expect e-commerce sales to be 5 percent or less this year – other internet-based sales and marketing initiatives are under way. Branding and resources for customers are of particular importance when it comes to e-commerce functions.

The full report "The 2015 State of E-Commerce in Distribution" can be found here.