Systemax's Global Industrial subsidiary has introduced the R3 program to help customers restore work environments, return employees to workplaces and rebound from the coronavirus pandemic. The initiative includes product recommendations and greater marketing and sales collaboration, Systemax CEO Barry Litwin says.

United Natural Foods CEO Steve Spinner says it will likely be fall before grocery suppliers, struggling to meet continued high demand, will be able to reach pre-pandemic stock levels. Spinner said low-stock levels and out-of-stocks are crimping UNFI's sales, though he believes getting back to more normal manufacturing and production will eventually help the bottom line.

The distribution sector has "seen 20 years of acceleration in digital in the last two months," largely due to the coronavirus, says Alibaba.com North America and Europe President John Caplan. Distributors need current email and social media approaches, quality content and a marketplace strategy, he says.

The economy is a major concern for 85.4% of distributors responding to an Industrial Distribution survey, a far higher percentage than other concerns, such as customers going out of business and higher operating costs. Nearly two-thirds also said they are prioritizing e-commerce.

Companies have rushed to adopt artificial intelligence, the internet of things and other advanced digital solutions to address pandemic-induced interruptions in their supply chains. Companies also have to develop real-time capabilities, as historical data no longer offers much guidance since the pandemic, says Jonathan Wright, IBM's global head of cognitive process re-engineering.

A Bloomreach study, conducted by Forrester Consulting, shows that 46% of businesses selling online have experienced growth during the coronavirus pandemic, and many plan to increase spending on websites (64%), their mobile app (58%), social media (52%) and third-party marketplaces (46%). The State of Commerce Experience report predicts the largest investments will go toward commerce technology and tools and third-party services.

Barry Feldman provides an infographic created from ClickMeeting's annual State of Webinars report and other resources that displays how business-to-business marketers are using webinars across the sales funnel. Insights include 75% of B2B buyers watched a webinar last year, the most popular stage to use webinars is in the middle consideration phase of the buying journey and 73% of B2B marketers and sales professionals say webinars are the best lead generation tool.

Distributors have made progress in navigating through this unprecedented disruption, but much more is needed. In this live webinar, we will follow up with Michael DeCata, President and CEO of Lawson Products, to hear how he is navigating through COVID-19 and how it has accelerated his plans around innovation. Mark Dancer, author of NAW's "Innovate to Dominate," and Richard Blatcher of PROS will explore with Mike how distributors must implement an "innovation ecosystem" to compete in the new normal. Register today! Sponsored by PROS.

Mark Dancer says, "One of the most important findings in 'Innovate to Dominate: The 12th Edition in the Facing the Forces of Change Series' is that 'distributors won't go far by going it alone.' In the digital age, the battle for customers is not just about putting up a webstore or leveraging AI for optimal pricing or effective selling. The real struggle is about ideas. The NAW Podcast Series: INNOVATE TO DOMINATE is here to help distributors access and create new ideas as they follow the roadmap to innovation set forth in 'Innovate to Dominate.'" Read his post.