The other major impact of e-commerce on distribution will be an outgrowth of this move to charge the customer according to how he buys. The winning distributor will differentiate his organization by offering services for fees, while branding the high value-added services by promoting them the way he does his major product lines today. He'll create separate identities, logos, advertising and promotional strategies for these special services, just like he pastes a Kohler or a Square D logo on his co-op advertising today. As far as the sellers go, inside sales will be lean, but still powerful and very much in need. There is just too much to do for the customer that can't be captured or delivered on a computer screen.
Outside sales is a real problem, though.
There's going to be a substantial downsizing of their duties. This operator would build volume quickly, and any competition who tried to cut price and duke it out just couldn't compete. The decade ahead is going to be very interesting, and the overall distribution business will look very different at the end of it. Marketing could help with profitability, strategic direction, and promoting the real value he delivers to his customers everyday. Unfortunately, most wholesalers are burdened with loads of price-cutting sellers, and maybe one or two marketing people who really don't have much power to influence the situation.