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Industrial Professionals’ Discovery Process Emphasizes the Importance of a Visible Online Presence for Distributors
GlobalSpec Survey Results Also Cite Availability and Delivery, Customer Service Support
as Top Reasons for Choosing a Distributor
TROY, NEW YORK - (BUSINESS WIRE) - 5/11/06 - Increasing numbers of customers are turning to the Internet to find distributors, according to a new survey of engineers, technical buyers, scientific professionals and other members of the industrial sector. These views were discovered through a recent survey by GlobalSpec (www.globalspec.com), the leading specialized search engine and information service, and e-publishing company for the engineering, industrial and technical communities. The purpose of the survey was to understand the buying behavior of these professionals as it relates to working with distributors.
Nearly three-quarters of respondents indicated that they go online first to find new distributors, using general and vertical search engines, such as GlobalSpec, and online industrial directories. Once finding a distributor online, respondents indicated that that up-to-date content, technical specifications, and searchable online catalogs are most important to them. Conversely, the survey revealed that e-commerce capability was not as important – the feature ranked near the bottom of the list of factors in choosing a distributor.
While e-commerce capability is not an imperative for distributors, improving their online presence is a mandate. Distributors looking to gain a competitive advantage by reallocating resources to better meet the information and buying needs of their audience should consider improving their Web marketing and offering searchable online catalogs and technical specifications online.
The survey results showed that the number-one reason that almost half of respondents contacted new distributors was because their current distributor did not offer the product needed. Respondents also indicated that location is not the most important factor in choosing a distributor, a finding that supports the strategy of distributors seeking additional business opportunities in geographic markets beyond their local base. These results further reinforce the need for distributors to be discoverable online.
Additionally, results from the GlobalSpec Distributor Buying Trends survey showed that price isn’t the most important factor in choosing a distributor. Instead, availability and delivery, customer service support and carrying stocking inventory were ranked as most important by those who completed the survey.
Other findings from the GlobalSpec Distributor Buying Trends Survey include:
51% of respondents sourced products from seven or more distributors in the past year and 97% of respondents are involved in the purchasing of products and services.
According to 39% of respondents, at least half of the distributors they sourced products from in 2005 had a sales rep making on-location calls.
57% of respondents stated that 25% or fewer of the distributors they did business with allowed online checking of order status.
Results from the 2006 GlobalSpec Distributor Buying Trends Survey can be found at: www.globalspec.com/mediakit/2006_DistributorBuyingTrendsSurveyResults.pdf.
About GlobalSpec, Inc.
GlobalSpec, Inc. is the leading specialized vertical search, information services and e-publishing company serving the engineering, technical and industrial communities. GlobalSpec users benefit from domain-expert search engines, a broad range of proprietary and aggregated Web-based content and over 40 product-specific e-newsletters – helping them search for and locate products and services, learn about suppliers and access comprehensive technical content. SpecSearch®, GlobalSpec’s trademarked search technology, allows users to search by specification more than 120 million parts in 1,600,000 product families from more than 18,500 supplier catalogs. For suppliers, GlobalSpec offers highly filtered sales and marketing opportunities, product promotion and brand advertising platforms, and a wide range of e-media advertising and marketing solutions.
GlobalSpec, SpecSearch, The Engineering Search Engine and The Engineering Web are registered trademarks of GlobalSpec, Inc.
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