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3 Ways to Make Your Company Stand Out from Amazon Business

Michael Croasdale
6/11/2019 | 5 min read
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3 Ways to Make Your Company Stand Out from Amazon Business

Recently, there have been growing concerns from industrial distributors about the effect Amazon Business will have on their sales, but there are many ways companies can differentiate themselves from the e-commerce giant.

While it certainly has its advantages from an ease-of-use perspective, for now, Amazon Business is essentially just another platform to purchase a product online – one that is heavily lacking in relationships and service.

In order to compete against a tactical, low cost, online solution, it’s important to focus on the strategic side of the relationship. To ensure distributors are retaining business against e-commerce threats, there are three key areas to focus on delivering to customers: account management, services, and technical expertise.

Account Management

Having a dedicated account manager who acts as a single point of contact is a consistent request from companies across the industrial space. Companies appreciate the stability of being able to go to the same person whenever there is an account-related issue or pressing need. These companies can put a face to their supplier; suppliers establish this through their account management function.

Account managers provide stability, manage the day-to-day account activities, ensure sales details like customer-specific pricing are disseminated correctly across the organization, and drive process improvement initiatives.

Services

For many facilities it’s not just about procuring a product – it’s about the services that go along with the product. Many of these services are provided at no additional cost. Because facilities are so caught up in day-to-day operations, managing storeroom inventory levels becomes secondary.

Companies turn to their suppliers to assist them with inventory management (vendor managed inventory, also known as VMI) for services like establishing and maintaining reorder points, restocking parts at their facilities, and making recommendations on the removal or addition of certain items from the storeroom. They want a supplier they can call when in a pinch who will deliver a critical component within hours to resume operations.

Industrial companies also expect their suppliers to provide value-added services such as training programs, recommendations of low-cost alternatives, and weekly service visits to their facilities.

Technical Expertise

Executing a sale isn’t always just about procuring a part at the lowest cost; it’s about diminishing the total cost of ownership (TCO). Companies don’t always have the expertise internally to identify operational improvements or understand some of the complexities of replacing intricate equipment components. This is where they rely on their suppliers to provide expertise and recommendations.

For example, suppliers may conduct safety audits to determine if the correct cut-resistant glove is being utilized across facilities and if it is not, how much money could be saved with a decrease in lacerations. Other suppliers may run standardization initiatives to reduce the number of respirator SKUs and leverage increased volumes with a manufacturer, reducing both unit cost and transactional costs.

Companies look to their suppliers to provide engineering expertise around the installation of certain components and to make recommendations on which components should be replaced based on machine run time. Some suppliers will even work hand in hand with customers on redesign initiatives. The impact of these value-added services is immeasurable.

Differentiating Distributors from Amazon Business

Ultimately, companies expect more from their industrial supply base than simply low-cost components. Suppliers can differentiate themselves from e-commerce platforms like Amazon Business by focusing on the other areas they bring value: account management, service, and expertise.

A relationship with a supplier who truly wants what’s best for their clients delivers far more value and cost savings than any e-commerce option.

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