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Q&A: A distribution executive views what’s ahead online

Editor’s Note: The pandemic upended how distributors conducted business in 2020, making many distribution organizations adopt a sales model driven in large part by B2B ecommerce. The dynamic of a digital-first business customer will accelerate even more in 2021. While this dynamic creates new digital commerce sales and growth challenges for distributors of all sizes, it also creates new challenges, especially for many older companies that traditionally have relied on non-digital sales channels to drive their business. In this Digital Commerce 360 B2B question-and-answer interview with Caroline Ernst, who is vice president, eCommerce Solutions, for Affiliated Distributors, she looks at how distributors fared online in 2020, some of the key lessons they learned, and what lies ahead for digital commerce in 2021. Affiliated Distributors, or AD, is an association that serves more than 850 independent distributors and related companies involved in such product categories as bearings and power transmission technology; electrical equipment; gypsum supply; heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC); industrial and safety products; pipes, valves and fittings (PFV); and safety network equipment.  

Editor’s Note: The pandemic upended how distributors conducted business in 2020, making many distribution organizations adopt a sales model driven in large part by B2B ecommerce. The dynamic of a digital-first business customer will accelerate even more in 2021. While this dynamic creates new digital commerce sales and growth challenges for distributors of all sizes, […]

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