With the year now more than half over, manufacturers and distributors have a few priorities to mind. And one of them is ecommerce, according to a survey of 700 manufacturers and distributors in North America and Europe from site search applications developer Algolia.

For 69% of B2B organizations, scaling revenue and operations is the top priority. The next priority is, which 53% cited, is prioritizing shifting revenue from in-person channels to ecommerce.

Despite the focus on ecommerce, manufacturers and distributors reported that 74% of revenue continues to come from offline channels and only 26% from online channels. This indicates a huge revenue opportunity to gain experience not only ecommerce revenue, but also the business overall, according to the survey.

B2B manufacturers, distributors want to scale revenue through ecommerce

“While these organizations currently earn less revenue from online channels, those investments are intended to reverse this trend and maximize potential online revenue. B2B companies that already have well-established ecommerce experiences currently generate more revenue through online interactions,” Algolia says.

Other findings include:

• When customers place orders online, 61% of those orders are a mix of large and small value products.
• 58% of B2B buyers made purchases once a week or more through ecommerce portals and 33% made ecommerce purchases a few times per month. Only 9% made a single monthly purchase.
• 32% of manufacturers and distributors recognize that their customers have difficulty finding products due to poor search functionality.
• 23% of respondents want to use search to consolidate data and information from various sources.
• 28% of manufacturers and distributors see search as a fundamental way to level up to advanced technology at their organizations.

“Responses across the board indicate that a top strategy for B2B organizations during 2024 is to scale revenue by shifting it to ecommerce channels,” according to the survey. “Many are already building toward those aims, with 48% either recently invested in ecommerce or prioritizing it for the year ahead. Building on those investments, B2B organizations aim to stand out in a competitive marketplace, reduce costs by simplifying and automating business processes, and drive profitability.”

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