According to Digitalist Magazine, now known as SAP Insights, wholesalers have traditionally served to warehouse products, acting as intermediaries between suppliers and customers. In today's market, however, they can no longer thrive with this basic business model. Well-established relationships with suppliers and customers no longer guarantee survival. Wholesalers must reinvent themselves as information-centric digital entities, reinventing business processes and reimagining business models to gain a competitive advantage. Four forces driving the digital transformation of wholesale trade
1) HEIGHTENED CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS: Customers today are goal-oriented as never before, especially business customers who, by definition, have only limited time. Expectations for speed, simplicity, reliability, personalization, and availability are high and growing higher daily.
Business buyers are also Internet-savvy consumers, so their private purchasing experiences set the bar for their business purchases. Online research and online buying are therefore increasingly relevant to the B2B buying process.
2) DIGITALIZATION OF THE BUYING JOURNEY: Whether customers start online and then move offline or complete their entire purchase online, the customer journey is increasingly digital – and undergoing continual change. Customer preferences are shifting toward mobile and Web-based channels, slowly extending and enhancing – but also in some cases obsoleting – traditional sales channels. Businesses now routinely engage with
customers across all media using texting, portal-based self-service, and social media channels.
3) SHARPER COMPETITION: Your competitors are already busy disrupting 20th-century business models. And as mergers and acquisitions create new international players, the lines between manufacturing, wholesale, and retail are blurring. Digital commerce giants have already grasped the incredible opportunity to apply their technological expertise to leap forward from the B2C model into B2B processes. Tightening profit margins drive the demand for continuous innovation across all sectors. Price transparency and low switching cost are the new normal, driven by ubiquitous online connectivity.
4) WORKFORCE EMPOWERMENT: Big Data and technologies are the heartbeats of the industry today, but people remain among the most valuable asset in any organization. In a competitive global environment, successful professionals can choose from multiple opportunities. Companies must retain top talent. Providing employees across the value chain with the right tools and insights empowers organizations to refocus on high-value, collaborative innovation while keeping the workforce engaged.
Read more at https://d.dam.sap.com/m/yX5YxV8/61968_WP_61968_enUS.pdf#pdfjs.action=download
Have queries about how your wholesale organization can benefit from Zooloo's digital solutions? Contact us at sales@zooloo.asia.
Explore more
- Read about The Digital Transformation Journey
- Learn more about our “Digital Backbones”
- Learn more from our eBook series on Digital Transformation for Wholesale Trade
Tags:#digitaltransformation #B2B #digitaladoption #digitalintegration #covid19 #digitalsolutions #wholesaletradesector #wholesaletrade
