Ecommerce remains a priority for many industrial suppliers. However, it may not be as high of a priority as it used to be, according to new survey results published by the magazine Industrial Distribution.
In 2021, when buyers still faced limited purchasing options because of the global COVID-19 pandemic, more than 90% of distribution companies said ecommerce was a priority, according to Industrial Distribution’s 2024 survey of distribution options.
Now, that figure has dropped to 61%, the survey says.
Why industrial supplier interest in ecommerce may have slowed
“This year, we see some gains in the emphasis on ecommerce, with 61% saying it’s a priority,” according to the survey. “Still, distributors say they are keeping their content fresh, with three of four attesting to redesigning their websites within the past three years and only one in five saying they ‘hardly ever’ update them.”
It is unclear why some industrial supply distribution companies are not prioritizing digital commerce. Many of the largest distributors in the space, including Grainger, Fastenal and MSC Industrial now generate more than two-thirds of all sales digitally.
For example, digital sales transactions in various forms continue to grow steadily at Fastenal Co. There, they accounted for 59.2% of total sales in the first quarter, up from 54.1% a year earlier.
“Our digital footprint continues to expand,” said Fastenal CEO Dan Florness. “We are approaching 60% of sales. And our anticipation is, sometime this year, that the number will hit the mid-60s — 66 is our target. And we believe that ends up being 85% of sales.”
Changing industrial supplier attitudes
Still, many other industrial suppliers are making ecommerce less of a priority.
“This may mean that companies have gained confidence in crafting an online presence that is less about transactional sales,” the survey’s authors say. “60% of respondents say they primarily use their website for marketing, 45% to generate sales and 37% to find new customers, and fifth on the list was traditional ecommerce sales.”
When it comes to deploying technology, 70% of industrial supply distributors are rolling out wireless applications followed by customer relationship management (68%), ecommerce (59%) and enterprise resource planning (51%), according to the survey results.
37% of industrial suppliers plan to deploy artificial intelligence within two years, according to the survey.
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