Does Google Search (Artificial Intelligence) Affect Your eCommerce Efforts?
Bill Floyd
This is a question we've been asked and want to share our take to those of you examining your ecommerce strategy. The bottom line is we don’t see Google search or AI changes affecting electrical distributor eCommerce much at all. First, as we’ve been communicating all year, most large project business originates within a contractor’s estimating software and this is where many distributors do most of their business. A contractor, bidding, winning, and ordering product for a school, hospital, or commercial building is not engaging with Google or even his distributor’s shopping cart. The path to the large eCommerce opportunities still lie in connecting the contractors’ software (bid, project management and accounting software) to a niche information provider (like Esmarts), to deliver product information, his distributor pricing, and eDeliver orders directly to his favorite distributors’ enterprise software. This has been part of the ES mission for some time now. Just a quick word about distributor shopping carts, other than a Grainger, MSC Direct, and a few others, the absolute best contribution from a distributor's shopping cart to their overall sales numbers that we've heard is well under 5%, often less than 1%. It will improve but we are hardly there yet.
The big problem that Google has to solve, even with all their deep pockets and technology, is being the “Pointer” for everything in the world. When you or I type something into Google’s search box they don’t know if we are about to look for something related to a medical question, Greek philosophy, pop culture, tonight’s dinner, or a hospital grade receptacle. To make sure they remain relevant they need to invest heavily in technology that improves their search results. Artificial Intelligence is part of that equation. Esmarts doesn't have the same issue since we are helping an audience navigate, and electronically connect, a single electrical vertical under a distributor brand that they already have a relationship with and buy from.
In time we would expect Google to look to improve their position in B-to-B spaces by partnering with information and commerce specialists like ElectricSmarts who are experienced in individual verticals.
One other point that was recently raised is that suppliers should be creating meaningful content to gain preference from Google. This is not a change. According to our folks, Google has always given preference to this kind of content.
Bottom line: Distributors are ill-equipped to play the Amazon game, but there are enough nuances in the electrical channel to also make Amazon ill-equipped to compete with them. Wholesalers just need to understand what they are and learn to compete on their home field.
Contact Us: bfloyd@electricsmarts.com
The big problem that Google has to solve, even with all their deep pockets and technology, is being the “Pointer” for everything in the world. When you or I type something into Google’s search box they don’t know if we are about to look for something related to a medical question, Greek philosophy, pop culture, tonight’s dinner, or a hospital grade receptacle. To make sure they remain relevant they need to invest heavily in technology that improves their search results. Artificial Intelligence is part of that equation. Esmarts doesn't have the same issue since we are helping an audience navigate, and electronically connect, a single electrical vertical under a distributor brand that they already have a relationship with and buy from.
In time we would expect Google to look to improve their position in B-to-B spaces by partnering with information and commerce specialists like ElectricSmarts who are experienced in individual verticals.
One other point that was recently raised is that suppliers should be creating meaningful content to gain preference from Google. This is not a change. According to our folks, Google has always given preference to this kind of content.
Bottom line: Distributors are ill-equipped to play the Amazon game, but there are enough nuances in the electrical channel to also make Amazon ill-equipped to compete with them. Wholesalers just need to understand what they are and learn to compete on their home field.
Contact Us: bfloyd@electricsmarts.com
