In the age of Amazon, many industry players find themselves struggling to keep up.
“The Amazon effect,” as it’s often called, has shifted the traditional business model past the point of recognition, changing the way businesses sell, distribute, and buy. Businesses either pay a fee to join the Amazon e-commerce platform, or they try to stick it out on their own
Every industry is impacted differently, but industrial OEMs face a particularly daunting challenge.
A recent JumpShot e-commerce trends report put this into perspective, showing that 54% of all online product searches began on Amazon in the second quarter of 2018 — up from 46% in 2015.
OEMs must seriously reassess their tactics to compete in this shifting landscape.
Many are joining Amazon, or at least considering it, despite the high sales fees that cut deeper into margins.
Other OEMs are turning to their local distributor partners to increase their reach. But there’s no denying how challenging it is to distribute comprehensive product data to an entire network of suppliers in order to generate the revenue they need to compete.
A popular option to power this competitive edge and overcome the complexities is Thomas Connect. Through this new platform, Thomas supports OEMs looking to maintain their independence and margins in the age of Amazon.
Built upon a proven product experience management platform that has already helped both OEMs and distributors sell millions of products and parts online, Thomas Connect makes it easy for OEMs to share product and CAD data to all of their sales channels.
The platform helps small- and mid-sized suppliers populate their sites with the information today’s buyers demand, leveling the industrial e-commerce playing field.
If you’re an OEM tackling this challenge, share data with your first distributor for free — visit Thomasnet.com/ThomasConnect for more information and to get started.