What’s Slowing Down Procurement in 2023?

How is it that in 2023 we’re still hearing leaders in the industrial supply industry say, “The future is digital for OEMs?” Or, distributors grudgingly telling us, “Yeah, well I guess the internet is the wave of the future.”

The future, really?!

When you’re in the middle of a 3-sided marketplace like ClearSource you have a unique perspective.
From our 30,000-foot perch, it’s easy to see why B2B procurement is slow, tedious, and carbon-heavy (ie. you have to engage with actual people unnecessarily).

Much of the slowdown starts with manufacturers’ missing online information. Many are so separated from their end-user customers that they don’t see the headaches they’re causing by not digitizing.

For people who subscribe to trickle-down theories – problems trickle down too.

When manufacturers don’t have products available to view on their website (and PDFs don’t count because search engines can’t read them) they’re invisible to anyone searching online.

When product data isn’t findable, end users and distributors spend an unusually long period of time over-searching, and who can blame them? It’s 2023, they can’t be faulted for thinking “information must be online somewhere!”

Finally, in a fit of frustration, end-users realize they have 23 tabs open, they’ve burned 30 minutes, and they’re no closer to finding the information they need…so they contact their distributors – eating up more time for both parties. Sometimes it comes back to bite the manufacturer when a rep is required to sort it all out. This burns up so many hours for everyone it’s almost criminal. The entire system runs with the level of efficiency we’ve come to expect from government. If that’s not a damning statement, what is?

In working with manufacturer-provided data to build our platform we see some OEM datasets that are perfect. Often, however, we’re jumping in the ditch along with our partners to help dig through and sort data.

Getting this task accomplished in the industry brings time-saving benefits for almost everyone, from manufacturers, and distributors, right down to end-users.

We get it. Sorting through 1000’s of SKUs and their information is tedious, boring, and unsexy. It’s easy to think of something…ANYTHING… else to be working on, right? Wrong.

The future is now – if not 10 years ago. End-users are looking for your product information online at this very moment. What are they finding?

When manufacturers don’t digitize, they download their problems onto others and slow down the entire industry.

Manufacturers, if this is something you haven’t addressed yet, let’s connect. Together we can roll up our sleeves to do the hard work. We’re here to help you sort this problem and, ultimately, help you grow your sales by getting you found online by prequalified buyers.

For more on this topic, check out a great article here https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2022/12/15/3-more-reasons-why-oems-should-start-their-digital-journey.