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The Battle for BtoB Sales Channel Supremacy is Over...and the Winner is: The Industrial Internet!
Post By: Del Merenda, President, i-MARK, Inc.
When the CEO and Chairman of GE gets personally involved in the creation of 'The GE Industrial Internet', it is time for the BtoB sector's (still) wait-and-see-minded CEOs to sit up and take notice. Not that Greg Immelt would take much notice of us, but we here at i-MARK could not agree more with his gutsy, multi-billion dollar initiative to put this explosively growing business channel to work for GE. And, if his announcement is not enough of a wake-up call, then here is another four-part 'convincer' for you.
- The Internet will become the dominant BtoB business channel by 2015.
- Expect to invest significant time and resources to make the one-time transition to digital business. Do it, deal with the pain, and get over it. No question, you'll love the outcome.
- It takes about two years for this new channel to settle-in and work on all cylinders.
- Putting it off or worse yet, choosing not to act will in all likelihood, cement business demise.
i-MARK has non-stop evangelized the power and value of the Industrial Internet since we hung-out our 'Open for Internet Business' shingle in 1998. To date, we have convinced nearly 100 component manufacturers to also buy-in to the Internet Channel by enabling them to put their interactive marketing, sales, service and support processes online. So what drove them to invest during this fifteen-year Internet business evolution? Pragmatic, survival-oriented recognition that BtoB business must be conducted online in a 24/7 connected world, and choosing not to would lead to their demise.
In the early years though, our selling efforts netted more bounce-back than penetration. We simply couldn't dislodge the aging business practices that were habitually-entrenched at so many durable goods manufacturers. What saved us however, were the visionary early-adopters and industry leaders who did drink the Internet Business Kool-AidŽ and went for it. Today, these brave risk-takers are growing market share and increasing profitability at levels that they could have never imagined when they (with shaking hands) inked their i-MARK contracts years ago. Sure, i-MARK played an enabling role in their successes, but more important, our customers foresaw a huge paradigm shift unfolding in their markets and they lunged to grab first-in advantage. And what a coup it was for them. For almost a decade, they enjoyed an incredible competitive advantage over their wait-and-see competitors. While others languished at expensive and empty trade shows, and squandered on print collateral and catalogs, these risk takers were snapping-up market share and signing-up new business with visitors from around the globe - companies that they never knew existed - and now they are saying , catch us if you can.
What's more, a recent blog post for tED Magazine titled Google Joins Amazonsupply.com in the BtoB Marketplace, by Jack Keough brings home my point further, particularly after reading this excerpt about how buyers may eventually behave on Google's beta site - Google Shopping for Suppliers:
"What should concern distributors is that a customer could just click on to a manufacturer's web site and then order the part or product through e-commerce and eliminate the distributor altogether."
This edition of our eNewsletter is focused on keeping you informed about the necessity of BtoB component manufacturers creating an Internet Business Channel. We hope you will take heed. At i-MARK we have BtoB eCommerce solutions that can work whether you sell through distibution, direct or both, either way, i-MARK or not, time to get moving!
To read a recent New York Times article about GE's Industrial Internet, click here.
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