That pressure stems from ARG’s role as a light custom-manufacturer as well as a distributor of more than 25,000 SKUs for  industrial hoses, fittings and related products for such industrial uses as oil rigs and fuel-delivery trucks. Most of its business involves replacing broken industrial hoses, and ARG’s sales and product teams often work with customers to assemble customized hose products and systems.

Mike Powers, director, ecommerce and digital, ARG Industrial

“You have to make sure that you’re getting the right data from your suppliers, and also that you’re presenting the right data on these assemblies to your customers,” says Mike Powers, ARG’s director of ecommerce and digital. Ship a hose assembly with the wrong specifications, and the customer could experience severe problems, he adds.

ARG B2B digital commerce sales

ARG is working with the the Industrial Distributor Cooperative (IDCO) buying group and product information management (PIM) and other software from digital commerce technology vendor Unilog to expedite how it receives product data from Midland and other critical suppliers.

Ross Baker, director of product strategy, Midland Industries

“It’s the way of the future,” says Ross Baker, Midland’s director of product strategy. “The more distributors that are pulling this data we’re putting into the PIM, the more chances there are for sales to increase on both sides.”

Powers asserts that companies involved in ecommerce face challenges in pulling data from legacy enterprise resource planning systems and integrating that data with a customer-facing ecommerce site.

“They’re realizing that the complexity of integrating legacy ERP and B2B ecommerce is very, very tough,” Powers says. He adds that companies then often find it difficult to find the people with the necessary expertise to work with legacy ERP systems.”

Working with Unilog and IDCO, ARG receives more consistent and helpful product information from Midland and other suppliers.

Midland is now pushing new product updates quickly to ARG, “instead of us waiting 12 months to get a new catalog,” Powers says. “All we need to do is log in.”

Data collaboration results

He says the much-improved product data flow is producing several results, including:

• Increased web traffic through improved keywords and search engine optimization.
• A more useful site search tool and increased sales of newly released products.
• ARG’s enhanced ability to develop a new configurator that lets customers who want to build their own hose assemblies to order an accurate product set.
• ARG’s enhanced ability to provide punchout catalogs that let buyers punch out from their procurement software to an ARG product catalog.

Baker adds that Midland expects to extend the level of product data-sharing it does with ARG to more companies to foster increased revenue for both Midland and its channel partners.

The Cashing in with Digital Channel Partners report is available for a free download.

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. paul@digitalcommerce360.com.

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Digital Commerce 360’s October B2B Strategy Insights covers how channel partners like distributor ARG Industrial, manufacturer MSA Safety, and manufacturer/master distributor Midland Industries are forging ahead and increasing sales with collaborative digital technology strategies.

By collaborating on digital product data and supply and demand, manufacturers, distributors, and other channel partners win more business and avoid getting left out in the cold.

This month’s report, Cashing in with Digital Channel Partners reveals:

• How B2B companies are using product data management systems to accurately distribute product displays, support manufacturers’ branded images, and increase online conversions
• How B2B companies are collaborating on new self-service ecommerce venues and logistics operations to expand how they connect with customers
• Case Studies on SmartEquip, the heavy equipment commerce technology and networking company and RoadEx America, a trucking and logistics services provider

Compliments of: Human Element, Fibre Box, Intershop

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The metalworking and industrial supplies distributor said sales increased 8.6% year over year to $4.009 billion. And that happened even though MSC Industrial ecommerce sales, which account for more than 60% of total sales, slid by 3% year over year in the fiscal fourth quarter. Gershwind attributed the drop in digital sales mainly to public sector sales occurring in non-ecommerce channels.

Kirsten Actis-Grande, executive vice president and chief financial officer, MSC Industrial Supply Co.

MSC Industrial ecommerce sales

Full-year MSC Industrial ecommerce sales, however, rose 9.1% to $2.45 billion. Gershwind and Kirsten Actis-Grande, executive vice president and chief financial officer, said they expect to see improved ecommerce sales, especially as MSC rolls out upgrades to the company’s flagship ecommerce site, MSCDirect.com.

“Looking forward, we expect improvement in our ecommerce sales, particularly through MSCDirect.com, as we start rolling out enhanced capabilities, including improved search and navigation functions,” Actis-Grande said on a Q4 earnings call with investment analysts today.

Gershwind added that the “heavy-lifting” on ecommerce improvements have already been completed and that the ecommerce upgrades will occur “over the next quarter or so. … That’s when customers will begin seeing an impact.”

Still, he cautioned that the impact of better ecommerce technology will not be like turning on a light switch.

“This will build over time,” said, adding: “It is one of the things, though, that gives us confidence beyond this year.”

MSC Industrial defines ecommerce sales as those through digital channels including its ecommerce platforms, internet-connected vending machines, EDI, XML-based ordering systems and other electronic portals. MSC’s formal corporate name is MSC Industrial Direct Co. Inc., but it generally goes by the name of its main business unit, MSC Industrial Supply Co.

MSC Industrial earnings

For the fourth quarter ended Sept. 2, MSC Industrial reported:

• Total net sales rose 1.3% year over year to of $1.035 billion.
• MSC Industrial ecommerce sales fell about 3% to $627.1 million, accounting for 60.5% of total sales.
• Gross profit margin of 40.5%, down from 41.9%.
• Net income fell 15.9% to $87.623 million.

For the fiscal year, MSC Industrial reported:

• Gross profit margin of 41.0%, down from 42.2%
• Net income inched up 1% to $343.23 million.

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. paul@digitalcommerce360.com.

Percentage changes may not align exactly with dollar figures due to rounding. Check back for more earnings reports. Here’s last quarter’s MSC Industrial report.

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The move is timely. It puts the global software company into a broad market push to help businesses facing supply chain challenges capitalize on AI advantages in procurement and supply chain activities. SAP provides widely used business operations software.

“GenAI is being embraced and adopted at a rapid scale, including in procurement,” says Jeffrey Rajamani, a senior analyst at Forrester Research. He covers procurement and sourcing technology and strategy. “It’s good to see that SAP has joined the bandwagon in bringing GenAI innovations in spend management. Sourcing and procurement functions in organizations are being disrupted, as the C-suite is tasking them with more strategic imperatives.”

SAP announced at its Connect Live event in Vienna, Austria, this week that it will soon make available procurement software applications embedded with GenAI to help procurement professionals.

The new SAP GenAI applications will help to:

• More quickly build comprehensive product categories through SAP Ariba Category Management.
• Improve spend management to identify cost-saving opportunities and more efficient purchasing practices through the SAP Spend Control Tower application.
• Expedite how they assess the risk of dealing with new suppliers through SAP Ariba Sourcing, SAP Ariba Contracts and SAP Ariba Buying software as AI helps to uncover suppliers’ reputations related to product quality and delivery service.
• More quickly identify new suppliers that meet their purchasing requirements related to product specifications and other criteria through SAP Ariba Sourcing. SAP recently integrated Ariba Sourcing with Scoutbee Discovery, an AI-powered supplier search application.

Christian Klein, CEO, SAP SE

Last month, SAP announced its release of Joule, a natural-language, generative AI tool it describes as a GenAI copilot. SAP will embed it into its applications for:

• Supply chains
• Procurement
• Customer experience
• Human resources
• Finance

SAP says Joule is designed for “quickly sorting through and contextualizing data from multiple systems to surface smarter insights.”

Joule has almost 300 million enterprise users around the world working regularly with cloud solutions from SAP, says SAP CEO Christian Klein.

And it “has the power to redefine the way businesses — and the people who power them — work,” Klein says.

SAP has room to grow with AI applications

When it launched Joule, SAP noted how a company might use it to check the cause of a sales decline.

“Imagine, for example, a manufacturer asking Joule for help understanding sales performance better. Joule can identify underperforming regions, link to other data sets to reveal a supply chain issue, and automatically connect to the supply chain system to offer potential fixes for the manufacturer’s review.”

Rajamani says SAP is off to a good start with AI-powered send management, which Forrester refers to as “supplier value management” or SVM. But he suggests it has room to grow with AI.

“While SAP seems to have addressed the supplier discovery, spend analytics, risk management and expense management parts of SVM, there are other areas where I think the demand for AI/GenAI has exploded exponentially: contract life cycle management and procure-to-pay,” he says. “It would be good for SAP to think through these important components, too, such as a GenAI bot to negotiate contracts.” (Procure-to-pay software manages and records commerce activity from the point a buyer begins the procurement process through payment.)

SAP conducted its Connect Live event Oct. 9 to 11. It did not immediately return a request for additional comments about its AI plans.

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. paul@digitalcommerce360.com.

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The suite of applications known as Bloomreach Discovery include new capabilities for:

• Better and faster group merchandising
• SKU searchability
• Facet enhancements

Bloomreach develops marketing automation, product discovery, and content management systems for B2B sellers and retailers.

As B2B buyers are becoming increasingly digital-first customers they are looking for better, faster, and more efficient ways to purchase complex products, or groups of products, online.

Bloomreach Discovery hits the B2B ecommerce market

The objective for Bloomreach Discovery is giving users faster ways to find exactly what they are looking for, says Bloomreach Discovery general manager and head of product Jordan Roper.

“For these businesses, discoverability is key,” he says. “That’s why we’re focused on enhancements to help our B2B merchandisers optimize the site experience and deliver exactly what buyers are looking for — as quickly and easily as possible.”

The new applications available under Bloomreach Discovery include tools such as group merchandising. It lets users find and purchase groups of products based on any attribute, such as:

• Manufacturer series
• Finish
• Specification met

Discovery also includes SKU searchability. It allows users to select product variants such as finishes, sizes, and dimensions. Also, it allows them to search a large product catalog for items with these specific metrics.

Another new application, facet enhancements, gives buyers the ability to rank, reorder, and customize the display of number-facets, which sorts numbers by their range from smallest to biggest.

Bloomreach says it has more than 850 customers in industries including, among others:

• Beauty and fashion
• Food and beverage
• Distribution and manufacturing
• Travel and hospitality

Ongoing new product development has been accelerating in part at least from the amount of new funding Bloomreach has received in recent years. In the past 30 months, Bloomreach received $325 million in new funding from Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Bain Capital Ventures, and Sixth Street Growth.

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Most business organizations describe their digital B2B commerce maturity as “ecommerce 3.0,” or middle of the B2B ecommerce maturity curve, according to the survey.

The survey data reveals there is still much opportunity for companies to invest in advancing their ecommerce maturity – and enhancing their digital offerings.

Advancing B2B ecommerce maturity

The most advanced B2B ecommerce maturity level is connected commerce. It’s a holistic digital commerce strategy that integrates seller ecommerce systems with buyer procurement and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems to achieve seamless, automated trade.

Many companies haven’t fully reached connected B2B commerce. The survey found that only 17% of respondents said they offered full end-to-end integration of commerce transactions. That includes procurement software and punchout catalogs and automation of purchase orders and invoices.

Regardless of how a buyer places an order, an integrated commerce system smooths out the transaction for both buyer and seller. Both sides of the transaction benefit from such practices as:

• Purchase order and invoice automation
• Expedited purchases
• Accurate information

These save time, reduce costs, and expand revenue-generating opportunities.

More B2B buyers also are asking for integrations to their e-procurement applications. 61% of respondents said more than a fifth of their customers were requiring the ability for purchasers to directly connect to ecommerce solutions from within their eProcurement application from SAP Ariba, Coupa, Jaggaer and others. In addition, 27% of respondents say more than 30% of their customers wanted procurement integration and 12% of respondents reported more than half of their customers were requesting it.

Matt Love contributed to this article.

More Charts & Data Stories

Check back soon for more Charts & Data Stories, like our weekly B2B infographics. Here’s last week’s. We add new content regularly. 

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Emily Newton

Integrating a supply chain with a maintenance, repair and operations program requires dedicated effort and critical skills. People who excel in this role must have strong digital capabilities and be open to using various technologies — including emerging ones.

Here are four top skills that will set people in this industry apart from their peers and ensure success in their careers.

1. Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence has rapidly emerged as a notable technology, particularly as people grapple with item shortages and demand fluctuations. However, anyone who currently works with MRO-integrated supply chains or plans to soon should get some AI skills under their belt and progressively work to improve their competencies.

Predictive algorithms help professionals know which supplies to order and when, greatly reducing the chances of stockouts. Executives are also realizing AI is essential to their operations, which suggests they should see it as an in-demand skill when hiring new team members.

A 2023 poll of C-suite members found that 90% were using AI to achieve better operational resilience. Additionally, 88% depended on it for supply chain enhancements. The potential uses span from interacting with a chatbot to place an order to getting predictions from algorithms about when specific products will sell out or start to run low.

2. Data Analytics

Data analytics skills are also proving essential. Professionals in these roles use them to evaluate the sensor data associated with a piece of equipment or estimate when the current stock of a vital component will be depleted. Knowing how to use data analytics platforms is increasingly important as the number of products moving through supply chains rises.

For example, during a single year, the supply chain for technology brand Lenovo included 2,000 suppliers working to deliver more than 130 million devices. An MRO-integrated supply chain specialist might use a data analytics tool to determine the most reliable suppliers according to their performance across several key performance indicators.

Even if someone doesn’t have strong data analytics skills, they can set a goal to gradually improve in that area. Besides making them more of an asset to their employers, this plan could increase job satisfaction by providing a well-defined career path and growth opportunities. Notably, a 2023 survey found that 84% of employees said clear career paths strengthened their commitments to employers.

3. Cloud Computing

Many leading industrial apps run in the cloud. Authorized users can access them from anywhere, making it easy to check statistics, communicate with stakeholders and more. People also use the cloud to store paperwork or streamline its distribution, such as to approve repairs on specific pieces of equipment or keep track of when maintenance occurred.

Another handy thing about cloud computing platforms is they support remote working arrangements. Even if someone doesn’t work from home all the time, it’s increasingly likely they will eventually. One 2023 survey of Americans found they spend 27% of their workdays at home on average.

Cloud computing tools have some similarities, but people must also learn to work with brand-specific features. It’s helpful for those working with MRO-integrated supply chains to dedicate themselves to learning the ins and outs of cloud software. That might mean using built-in help guides or signing up for provider-offered online courses.

People who grow their skills might spend time mentoring peers or encouraging colleagues to embrace the organizational changes that cloud computing products often bring. This enables employees to become crucial parties that show others how these apps can improve their workflows.

4. Project Management

A continuing commitment to digital skill growth will also put MRO supply chain professionals ahead of their peers. Roles increasingly include time spent with various internet-connected tools and platforms, and many suppliers and distributors prefer digital-only transactions.

Digital project management tools simplify tracking what responsibilities people must handle and when. They also enable smoother communication between various stakeholders, allowing people to comment, upload images or documents, and assign subtasks to other parties.

Once people improve their cloud computing skills, they’ll likely find significant similarities associated with using project management tools. That’s because most of them work in the cloud to make it easier for people to get things done in on- and off-site locations.

Commit to Ongoing Growth

These four skills are among the most necessary in today’s fast-paced and digital-centric world. Anyone involved with MRO-integrated supply chains should stay aware of emerging technologies that could become more prominent in their industry.

Some companies are experimenting with augmented reality to support workflows and improve training. Others use mobile robots to carry supplies around distribution centers and other large facilities. People should pay attention to what’s new in their companies and the industry and be ready to capitalize on new learning opportunities. That will help them prepare for whatever’s ahead while setting good examples for others, bringing their company to the forefront.

About the author

Emily Newton is an industrial writer reporting on how technology disrupts industrial sectors. She’s also the editor-in-chief of Revolutionized, covering innovations in industry, construction, and more.

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The new B Store ecommerce software module is a headless commerce offering that primary suppliers, including manufacturers and master distributors, can extend to distributors or other channel partners for processing online sales to end customers.

“B Store is the middle ‘B’ in B2B2B, B2B2C and B2B2X business models,” says Tom Flierl, Amla’s chief commercial officer.

He adds that B Store lets manufacturers maintain data control. It covers such critical areas as product data accuracy and brand images.

Znode headless ecommerce platform

As a headless platform, Znode is designed to support multiple customer-facing interfaces. And they integrate via APIs with the Znode ecommerce engine. With B Store, Znode provides a ready-made ecommerce storefront module users can customize on top of Znode’s ecommerce software. In addition, B Store lets the manufacturer or other primary supplier maintain control over their product data and access customer demand information, Flierl says.

Frank Connelly, product manager at Znode, says manufacturers and other product suppliers will be able to set product pricing and discounting ranges for each channel partner’s B Store.

Carlos Manalo, co-CEO of the Chicago-based digital agency Office of Experience, says the B Store module offers valuable “out-of-the-box” ecommerce software. And he says it does so in a flexible headless environment for companies that need to help their channel partners selling through an ecommerce site.

“This functionality allows you to go faster out of the box and gives you the ability to scale without getting painted into a corner,” he says. He adds that use cases include manufacturers that sell through dealers for such categories as uniforms and promotional products.

Znode is available under a single-tenant, software-as-a-service model, with fees based on sales volume and other criteria.

B Store features include:

• The ability of a manufacturer’s channel partner to build out its own self-service ecommerce site.
• Curating product catalogs and customizing price lists.
• Pop-up ecommerce shops that companies can set up for special limited-run or recurring sales events.
• Controlling information on product and category availability.

Znode also plans to introduce this fall the Znode Commerce Portal. It will provide the same online interface for channel partners, sales reps and customers.

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. paul@digitalcommerce360.com.

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SmartEquip recently released the SmartEquip e-Commerce 2.0 as a technology platform, on which authorized distributors, dealers and fleet managers can operate their own branded self-service commerce store for selling construction parts from SmartEquip’s parts catalog network of more than 700 original equipment manufacturers. The company is a subsidiary of B2B marketplace company RB Global Inc., which also owns such organizations as construction equipment marketplace operator Ritchie Bros.

SmartEquip B2B ecommerce platform

Andrew Malion, president of braking equipment supplier Spectra Products Inc., says the SmartEquip product catalog helps his customers view descriptions and images of Spectra’s Brake Safe  products to ensure they order the correct parts for truck air brake diagnostic systems. Spectra Products recently joined the SmartEquip Network.

“Joining their network of suppliers and manufacturers is the ideal way to offer equipment owners our Brake Safe diagnostics tool,” he says.

Ron Piccolo, senior vice president of operations at Smart Equip, says Spectra Products is an example of the growth in the variety of suppliers in the SmartEquip Network.

In addition to several hundred OEM brands, the SmartEquip Network has over 95,000 users across more than 42,000 equipment locations globally, SmartEquip says.

The upgraded SmartEquip ecommerce store supports a mobile channel.

RB Global’s operations also include:

• Ritchie Bros., a global online auctioneer of commercial assets and construction vehicles.
• IAA, a global digital marketplace for motor vehicle buyers and sellers.
• Rouse Services, an asset management and performance benchmarking system.
• Xcirca, a live simulcast auction technology provider.
• Veritread, an online marketplace for heavy haul transport services.

RB Global took its current corporate name earlier this year, when it changed it from Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers Inc. For the year ended Dec. 31, 2022, the company reported $1.7 billion in total revenue. It also reported marketplace gross transaction value of $6.0 billion.

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. paul@digitalcommerce360.com.

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Since deploying a new ecommerce platform nearly a year ago, the company has increased total sales by 30%. The percentage of orders placed online has grown from zero to about 40%, says Ryan Nesbitt, co-founder and chief financial officer.

Doc Lane’s new ecommerce site runs on the BigCommerce B2B Edition ecommerce platform and features an upgraded buyer’s portal. It has made it easier for the pharmacy supplier to showcase its full range of products while also making it easier for buyers to find what they need, place orders and pay online, he says.

“Customers didn’t really know the full extent of Doc Lane’s capabilities,” Nesbitt says. “And that’s where digital commerce comes in.”

Doc Lane’s builds its brand and grows commerce online

On the ecommerce site, DocLanes.com/equine, customers can learn that the company provides both branded and “compounded medications.” The latter is a form of made-to-order medications that vets may not easily find elsewhere.

The site also provides a better overall customer experience. Nesbitt says it includes the ability to:

• More easily set up customer accounts
• Find and order specific products
• Place reorders
• View order history

Now, Doc Lane’s is also expecting a continued increase in the percentage of customer accounts paying their invoices online through the newly released BigCommerce B2B Edition Invoice Portal. The invoice portal is designed to let customers view their invoices online and click them to process payments. It also reconciles payments with enterprise resource planning systems (ERPs) and lets customers pay invoices for orders placed either online or offline.

In addition to simplifying the invoice-paying process for customers, Doc Lane’s also expects the invoice portal to improve its cash flow.

“Over 60% of Doc Lane’s Veterinary Pharmacy customers pay orders on terms,” Nesbitt says. “Many of our customers wait to send us a paper check after they receive their billing statement at the end of each month, which is like adding an additional 1-2 weeks to their 30-day terms.”

Lance Owide, B2B general manager at BigCommerce, describes the invoice portal’s abilities as “transforming a traditionally disconnected process into a seamless centralized hub where buyers can manage offline and online transactions from one ecommerce backend.”

Other companies using the BigCommerce B2B Edition include B2B brands The Beer Bat, Tectran, USCutter and United Aqua Group.

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. paul@digitalcommerce360.com.

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