AI, Tech, & Digital Commerce

The 2014 distributor marketing survey covered several areas of marketing, including planning, objectives, vehicles, channels and organization. Companies are using more digital marketing than they did in the 2011 survey. They consider it more important, and they are staffing accordingly.

E-commerce demand generation is in transition. According to results from the third annual MDM Distribution E-Commerce Survey, while most distributors are increasing e-commerce revenue from email marketing, catalog and organic search, they remain less effective with paid search and marketing automation.

This article examines the results of the 2014 State of E-Commerce in Distribution Survey and how the industry’s e-commerce offerings are maturing. Part 2 will look at best practices for distributor e-commerce marketing, data management and operations.

Customers have indicated a preference to receive communications in both digital and print formats. It’s not a surprise that they still want to receive the traditional print catalog once per year. As we’ve discussed in past articles, print is still a very viable and preferred form for customers to have a complete view of your…

E-commerce revenue as a portion of total revenue has grown significantly in the past year through the growth of existing e-commerce sites, as well as new implementations, according to a joint MDM online survey with Distribution Strategy Group conducted at the end of 2012.

The vast majority of distributors who are still in business today have good direct salespeople without whom they would not be in business. Yet the distribution world is changing – it’s not your grandfather’s distribution business anymore.

When we ask successful distribution company executives about the sweet spots in their market, they readily provide a confident answer. The problem with the answer is that it is usually incorrect or at best partially correct.

One of the biggest challenges for any sales and marketing organization is when to reach out to a customer with an offer or promotion. The objective is to reach out according to a natural buying cycle. If it is done too frequently, it loses its impact or even turns the customer off.