Survey: Distributors focus on e-commerce improvement | Amazon Business exec: E-procurement must get easier | What makes distributor advisory councils successful?
Improving e-commerce websites to better serve customers will be the top challenge and a leading priority for many distributors next year, according to the Digital Commerce 2021 B2B Distributor/Wholesaler survey. Another priority for many respondents in 2022 is spending more on e-commerce sites.
Online procurement could be improved with automation, better workflows and the use of computer vision, artificial intelligence and analytics, writes Petra Schindler-Carter, general manager of Amazon Business Worldwide. "Companies that fail to close the gap between supply and demand will inevitably face significant operational challenges that drain budgets," Schindler-Carter writes.
Companies with successful distributor advisory councils will have vice presidents serve instead of sales managers, focus on communication and learning, and have patience because change takes time, according to best practices shared by several companies. "The Corporate Development Institute's research indicated the trend to have a senior manufacturing executive dedicated full-time to distributor relations is growing,"
writes James Hlavacek, chairman of the institute.
Logistics costs are growing again after falling by 4% last year, according to a Kearney report. The increases are "across the board but most notably in the parcel, storage and warehousing, international and ocean segments," Kearney partner Balika Sonthalia says.
The logistics industry could resolve current global disruptions and avoid future problems with a greater use of technology, a move toward domestic supply chains and a push to generate revenue from excess capacity within companies' individual supply chains, according to a logistics study by NTT Data. "No amount of technology is going to resolve some of the capacity issues, but it will give us more agility to adjust to maintain production," says Sylvie Thompson of NTT Data Services.
Salespeople have focused on a single solution that remains mostly the same for all customers for years, but the time is coming when it will be more important to sell outcomes, writes Anthony Iannarino. "Outcomes are far more dependent on individual clients' needs, markets, competencies, and willingness to change," Iannarino writes.
Some 54% of business-to-business decision-makers spend more than an hour each week consuming thought leadership content, but 71% say less than half of that content provides valuable insights, according to the 2021 B2B Thought Leadership Impact Study from LinkedIn and Edelman. In addition, 55% of buyers will move on if thought leadership content doesn't grab their interest in the first minute and 63% think thought leadership content "is important in providing proof that an organization genuinely understands or can solve your specific business challenges."
Positivity that inspires people and creates movement is what people and organizations should strive for, even as negativity is part of life and has its necessary moments, writes Nick Nowak, who offers a short quiz on "risers" and "sinkers." Positive-minded people "are committed to doing the right thing, doing what they can and believing that it can be done," Nowak writes.
Join us today for this free NAW webinar at 2 p.m. Eastern where will identify best practices for developing, implementing, monetizing and managing services. Register now! Sponsored by Oracle Netsuite and Enable.
