Reality Check on Distributors' Amazon Worries

Distribution consultant Frank Hurtte of River Heights Consulting, Davenport, Iowa, posted a piece on his blog last week that casts a far more realistic light than we usually see on the challenges facing distributors from the rise of internet-native commerce giants such as AmazonSupply. Hurtte doesn’t name names, but his piece is a reaction to articles with overheated visions of traditional distribution being gutted and left for dead by the likes of Jeff Bezos.

Upping the ante in a game we can win.

Instead of fretting and fumbling with how to improve our online catalog, why not work to develop additional tools for your own unique knowledge-based value proposition?  No doubt your organization provides dozens of value-added services to customers.  Certainly, you provide on-site expertise which will not be delivered via the web (at least in the foreseeable future and my lifetime.)  Let’s invest in the stuff that really attracts our customers.

Hurtte goes on to point out several ways distributors can secure their futures in the face of Amazon’s bid for a piece of their action, most of them having to do with investing in doing even better what they may already do very well – things such as measuring value-add, charging for services, and demonstrating the value distributors create for their suppliers.

Good, short read, so go digest the whole thing: Amazon: Best Friend or Worst Enemy?