US Foods' private-label business encourages customer loyalty and provides value beyond logistics and on-time delivery services, says CEO Pietro Satriano. "Unique products" and a research and development team differentiate US Foods from its competitors, Satriano says.

WPG Holdings is overhauling its technology to offer a business-to-business logistics platform so clients can serve customers more efficiently, says CEO Frank Yeh.

Amazon provides opportunities for small-business owners to reach new customers, but thinning margins and a lack of marketing opportunities make it difficult for brands to increase sales and successfully introduce products, says an anonymous online retail entrepreneur interviewed by Modern Retail. "Amazon also promotes its own brands above and beyond everybody else's," the entrepreneur says.

Warehouses are increasingly utilizing newer technologies to counteract a tight labor market and rising real estate prices, as well as to speed fulfillment, but outsourcing issues, unpredictability and other factors may slow adoption of new tech and limit job loss for workers, according to a study by the University of California at Berkeley's Center for Labor Research and Education. Researchers warn that, while technology could replace mundane or physically demanding tasks, it may also increase workload and required pace, which could lead to health and safety issues and employee burnout.

Out-of-date and inconsistent content has resulted in 58% of global business-to-business firms having to deal with dissatisfied customers or returns, and 51% report that poor product content is the biggest barrier to effective stocking and distribution, per inRiver and Savanta. Additionally, 58% of respondents use content software and 28% find it difficult to meet content standards for new channels and markets.

This infographic from UTM.io provides a guide to creating and optimizing business-to-business content for each stage of the buying funnel, recommending that during the awareness stage, marketers provide content relating to industry trends or solutions to customer pain points in formats such as infographics, videos and social posts. Optimization tips include creating content funnels for different personas and making content educational instead of sales-focused.

Everyone is responsible for digital literacy inside an organization, starting with the board and C-suite, which means companies can't leave this task to an old-style IT department, writes Tony Saldanha, a longtime Procter & Gamble executive and CEO of Transformant. "Every business function leader and every business unit leader needs to make and own the choices about how they will digitize their part of the enterprise," he writes.

NAW Institute Fellow Mark Dancer and Mike DeCata, President and CEO of Lawson Products, will have a lively and informative discussion about how distributors can lead in the age of B2B innovation, defeating disruption and reinvigorating our business economy through digital transformation. Register for NAW's Nov. 14 "Welcome to the Age of B2B Innovation" webinar, sponsored by PROS. Can't attend? Register anyway and we'll send you a webinar replay link.

"Innovate to Dominate: The 12th Edition in the Facing the Forces of Change Series" is less a report on trends and more of a roadmap for innovation. It helps distributors connect the dots between the forces of change and how distributors can change their business to capture opportunities ... and defend their business when necessary. The best innovations are about getting ahead instead of catching up. Save 10% per copy for a limited time using discount code FFC10 at checkout.

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