TD SYNNEX is also expanding the reach of artificial intelligence assistants that can perform routine sales and customer service functions. After initially launching an AI assistant in Microsoft Teams, the distributor has added assistants to Slack and Webex.
Anthony Gallo will oversee product strategy, management, and design, with priorities including AI-based B2B commerce, enterprise system integration, and data governance.
The distributors that thrive alongside a $60 billion Amazon Business will be the ones that stopped trying to out-Amazon Amazon and made themselves too complicated to replace.
Amazon is increasingly positioning Amazon Business as the platform companies use to manage procurement itself, embedding the service deeper into customers’ purchasing workflows rather than competing only for individual orders.
Together, the additions broaden the marketplace across 200 product categories, including electrical, industrial, information technology, laboratory supplies, foodservice equipment, facility maintenance, and workplace furnishings.
A long-term exclusive partnership between DHL eCommerce and USPS may improve network stability, service consistency, and pricing predictability for high-volume shippers, particularly distributors that rely on parcel delivery for ecommerce orders, direct shipments to contractors and end users, or replenishment of branch locations.
CEO D.G. Macpherson said Grainger’s AI deployments now fall into two primary categories: internal productivity and customer-facing digital capabilities.
The expansion marks Amazon’s latest move to increase its presence in commercial purchasing and workplace replenishment while extending its reach into food distribution and delivery services.
The centerpiece of Amazon Business’s current AI deployment is the Amazon Business Assistant.
As ecommerce and AI vendors compete to control the B2B commerce stack, distributors face potential shifts in the platforms, integrations and digital capabilities that underpin their online sales and customer experience.