Distributors put a priority on ecommerce sales

Although ecommerce is getting more and more popular with merchants, distributors have not massively responded to that shift with their own ecommerce channel. Streamlining the fulfilment process may be the most important priority for distributors this year, but growing their ecommerce sales is also on their wish list.

According to a recent study among 312 companies, conducted by Retail Systems Research, half of distributors say ecommerce sales is one of their top three priorities for 2016. The research firm asked retailers and their suppliers to name their three top priorities. It may not come as a surprise that three out of four retailers said they want to grow ecommerce sales further in 2016. But among the retail chain suppliers, it was one out of two who said increasing their web sales is among their top three priorities.

‘Distributors are taking important steps’
The study notes that while distributors and other supply chain partners are trailing retailers with a focus on ecommerce sales, they nonetheless are taking some important steps. For example, by improving fulfillment services, a top priority for 80 percent of them, distributors will fill an import need of retail ecommerce operations.