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Category: e-commerce
8 Questions Every Distributor Should Answer Before Building an E-commerce Site
Everything starts with what your customers need and want. Unfortunately, distributors’ buyers aren’t as simple to market to as B2C customers. For example, many industrial buyers move from project to project and need new solutions every few months. In contrast, others may manage inventories that carry the same items and frequently need to replenish their […]
8 Questions Distributors Should Answer Before Building an E-commerce Site
Everything starts with what your customers need and want. Unfortunately, distributors’ buyers aren’t as simple to market to as B2C customers. For example, many industrial buyers move from project to project and need new solutions every few months. In contrast, others may manage inventories that carry the same items and frequently need to replenish their […]
Distributor Finance 2.0: The Hottest Feature of B2B Marketplaces
Applico, the digital platform consultancy, continues to see record fundraising numbers for B2B marketplaces due to its high growth metrics — with $1 billion in VC investment raised in 2021 for just the Top 3 B2B marketplaces. Applico’s ranking of the top 50 B2B marketplaces received a great deal of interest in 2021, and our […]
How Distributors Can Deliver Digital Self-Service Through Inventory Management
We all know that COVID-19 forced many distributors to rapidly increase their online presence to meet growing demands from customers for self-service and online product information. This shift to more digital self-service, paired with an increasing demand for remote interaction with sales reps, is the new norm. According to a recent study by McKinsey and […]
Modernizing Channel Relationships: There’s an App for That
An increasing number of digital platforms are emerging across distribution verticals, each with a unique value proposition. One example is a start-up called Factrees, which last month emerged from stealth mode with an AI-powered platform intended to digitally transform and modernize how business partners connect on the selling side in the construction products channel. In […]
Want to Enhance Your Website? Think Like a Content Storyteller
Digital transformation is a growing buzzword in distribution. But what exactly do distributors need to transform? Rethink the product-first focus of your website, for starters. That’s the advice of Andrew Walker, CEO of digital marketing firm Shift7 Digital. Working often with manufacturers and distributors, Walker explains in an MDM podcast (available below) that there is […]
Platform Raises $16M to ‘Enhance’ Ordering
Pepper, an e-commerce platform for food distributors, has raised $16 million in Series A funding to “enhance the ordering experience” for distributors serving more than 25,000 restaurants and grocery stores in the U.S. and Canada, the company announced. Index Ventures led the round of funding, with participation from Greylock, Imaginary Ventures, BoxGroup, Moving Capital and […]
The Amazon Effect: Must Distributors Keep Up?
Few doubt whether Amazon’s fast and free delivery options have impacted the retail, distribution and shipping industries. But some are still debating whether a Prime-like delivery model will translate to B2B e-commerce, and whether such a model is truly necessary. Whether or not distributors need to offer next-day delivery, B2B customers do expect the option […]
FleetPride Acquires Garden Spot
Irving, Texas-based FleetPride Inc., a distributor of truck and trailer parts and services, last week acquired the assets of Pennsylvania-based Garden Spot Frame & Alignment. Financial details were not disclosed. Garden Spot offers shop services to heavy-duty fleets and operators in southern Pennsylvania, including repairs for trucks and trailers, alignment and framework, roadside and on-site […]
Is E-Commerce Data More Important than Products?
When you think about big technology mergers and acquisitions, it’s unlikely you’ll think about distributors getting in the mix. Yet earlier this summer, that’s exactly what happened when B&D Industrial acquired GTI Predictive Technology, an internet-of-things company that conducts vibration analysis. The promise of the IoT is that by connecting tools and appliances to the […]
FleetPride Launches Enhanced E-Commerce Solutions
While the distribution sector may lag behind other industries when it comes to enhanced e-commerce solutions, companies that employ digital, customer-focused parts-and-service options stand to thrive during a sometimes-chaotic era for the distribution industry, executives from FleetPride said during a recent webcast. “I’ve been in the business a long time, and right now the pace […]
FleetPride Creates New E-Commerce Site
Irving, Texas-based FleetPride Inc., a distributor of truck and trailer parts and services, has created a new e-commerce site to allow customers to quickly place orders. The company’s web customers previously could only look up product information and were unable to purchase items. There are more than 176,000 products available online for all Class 6-8 […]
Parts Town Goes Full-Tilt on E-Commerce Marketplace Model
To continue reading this article you must be a paid subscriber. Subscribe to MDM Already Subscribed? Click here to log-in | Forgot your password? Parts Town’s new Marketplace will help it expand into other verticals, such as HVAC, janitorial, water filtration, technician supplies and residential appliances. The Red Lightning Group division of Parts Town — […]
How to Bridge the Disconnect Between Buyers and Sellers Online
B2B buyers and sellers have different perceptions of what is important to the buying journey, according to Amazon’s “B2B E-Commerce in Evolution Report.” Amazon surveyed 250 U.S. B2B buyers and 250 B2B sellers in December 2020 and January 2021. Buyers reported that online features were far more valuable to them than phone calls with a […]
A Last Major Frontier for E-Commerce
Imagine the next time you walk into Costco — all the products, on all the shelves, have been placed in simple grey boxes. Without assistance you can’t tell a toilet plunger from a tomato. So you stand in line and wait for someone to help you. After 15 mins of waiting, you get the “new […]
