The business-to-business (B2B) wholesale market is valued at a staggering $7.7 trillion worldwide. To earn a bigger slice of this pie, there is relentless pressure on wholesale distributors to differentiate themselves in a competitive market. This means that distributors are increasingly taking inspiration from the successes of the business-to-consumer (B2C) sector in customer service, user experience, and ease of purchasing. In this respect, one of the key trends in the B2B sector is the rise of digitalization and eCommerce. These are essential pillars of B2C growth that B2B wholesalers can adopt to establish a competitive advantage in logistics. The pace of change, however, is breathtaking: In the U.S. food service industry alone, digital penetration is predicted to reach 70% by 2019, compared to 50% now. Looking forward, wholesalers should have an eCommerce strategy in place to migrate conventional operations to a digital platform. But first, let’s define eCommerce and the new digital journey available in wholesale purchasing.
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