Commentary: An Industry at an Inflection Point - Modern Distribution Management

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Commentary: An Industry at an Inflection Point

Innovation will alter competitive dynamics. Selling products that are highly technical is a pretty good strategy to keep Amazon Business at bay today. But for how long will that be good enough? Thats the type of question every distributor needs to ask right now.Subscribers should log in below to read this article.

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Innovation will alter competitive dynamics. Selling products that are highly technical is a pretty good strategy to keep Amazon Business at bay today. But for how long will that be good enough? That’s the type of question every distributor needs to ask right now.

On Nov. 30, Amazon published a blog, “Introducing Alexa for Business,” outlining that businesses can “use Alexa to find open meeting rooms, order new supplies, report building problems or notify IT of equipment issues.”

Your customers will soon be voice-ordering office supplies, janitorial supplies and basic maintenance products via Alexa – connected to Amazon’s marketplace and best-in-the-world logistics and online ordering capabilities. What percentage of orders are simple re-orders? How much of your portfolio can be considered complex purchases?

To read the rest of this article plus much more analysis of the threat distribution faces with Amazon Business, click here to download our free report, Your Amazon Business Playbook.

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