The future of distribution15 ways to thrive in the new age of people, integration and speed of change

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The distributors that are thriving in today’s connected world recognize that people are the reason they exist. They understand that the organization needs to work as one, and that embracing change must be part of the corporate DNA.

In this white paper, we’ll introduce you to the key concepts that thriving distributors are incorporating into their business models.

1. Move beyond multichannel

As higher interest rates and slower global growth challenge sales and profits, distributors must improve the efficiency of every channel and focus on creating a brand experience that cements relationships. Omnichannel strategies aim to build brand loyalty through consistent experiences across channels. Your customers will be willing to pay more and keep coming back when they know they can depend on your brand.

2. Multilevel marketing

Direct connection and interaction with your customers is critical to building brand allegiance. End-to-end coordination of marketing means ensuring that every communication — from social to email to customer support — is personalized for that customer. Knowing your customer builds cross-sell, upsell, accessory and warranty opportunities without being invasive.

3. Personalize promotions

Your customers expect you to use data from past interactions to customize their buying experience. Putting that data to work, you can predict the purchases they are likely to make and create personalized offers — including combinations of products and incentives that deliver on their expectations and build your sales.

The future of distributionThe distribution industry is experiencing monumental change at every level — direct relationships with consumers, expanding channel options and growing global connections. Building profits is no longer as simple as moving inventory and optimizing the supply chain.

Table of contents

Move beyond multichannel 2

Multilevel marketing 2

Personalize promotions 2

Connect with millennials 3

Optimize supply chain 3

Coordinate across functions 3

Unify data 3

Eliminate buying friction 3

Incorporate social selling 3

Invest in technology 4

Improve online presence 4

Prioritize mobile 4

Manage risk 5

Manage products with agility 5

Evaluate the Internet of Things (IoL) 5

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4. Connect with millennials

The newest generation of buyers use social networks to guide their purchases and rate their experiences. They want to spend their dollars with brands that reflect their values and personalities, rewarding those ready to engage on modern terms. By engaging through all social channels and mobile devices, you can build loyalty with the millennial buyers — who have more spending power than any other group. Using data to build personalized shopping experiences will further reinforce your commitment to the age of social selling.

5. Optimize supply chain

An optimized supply chain is a strategic commitment requiring strong linkages between the overall corporate strategy and the processes and initiatives that drive continuous improvement. To truly manage supply chain performance, you need full visibility across the entire distribution and retail network, including external business partners. The journey to an optimized supply chain starts with building a business case and establishing strategic governance for the improvement initiative — clearly linking individual process projects to corporate goals and metrics.

6. Coordinate across functions

In many organizations the biggest challenge to fully integrated operations and a connected supply chain is the lack of role clarity, aligned metrics and governance across functions. To break down the silos, you must first define, document and measure cross-functional business processes. Then take a systematic approach that cascades from enterprise-level objectives to specific initiatives that will improve cross-functional coordination. Integrated metrics will help you avoid disconnected functional outcomes.

7. Unify data

With multichannel operations and a complex supply chain, decision makers need information that bridges silos to provide a complete view of interconnected operations. Engage a cross-functional team to establish an integrated system of record (SOR) that will enable decision makers to dig deeper into cause and effect for continuous improvement of operations.

8. Eliminate buying friction

Today’s customers have no patience with outdated systems that require duplicate data entry and extra steps. Evaluate every step in your checkout and re-order processes to remove friction from the shopping experience. Reorders should be one-click, and mobile shopping should be a breeze.

9. Incorporate social selling

As more of your customers engage with you through social channels, social insight should become a natural part of your sales process. Conversations can play an active role in purchasing decisions, from selling through comments to user-generated content. By collecting customer experience stories, reviews and questions to incorporate into the shopping experience and marketing campaigns, you can create more personal relationships with buyers.

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10. Invest in technology

Supporting a mobile workforce, enabling collaboration across business units and meeting customers’ expectations all require modern business management systems. To stay ahead in a data-driven world, systems must adapt to a fast-changing digital world without disrupting business. Cloud-based business management systems provide instant access to software that can optimize the supply chain, support new sales channels and adapt to consumer buying preferences. Eliminating downtime from updates and maintenance, the cloud will keep the business responsive and agile.

11. Improve online presence

Your business can’t provide a consistent customer experience across channels if you are still trying to manage online and offline systems separately. To achieve the goal of omnichannel operations, your organization needs unified, single-view business management systems. Through the cloud, you can connect your operational systems to your website to support a seamless online experience. With fully integrated financial, operations and e-commerce management systems, customers and employees can have visibility into inventory, orders, fulfillment, billing information and much more through your website.

12. Prioritize mobile

Mobile has become a fundamental transformation in the way distributors and retailers interface with customers. While online shopping must be a top priority for the mobile experience, the opportunities through location-based marketing are growing fast. Through cloud-enabled, location-based interactions, regional product search can increase inventory visibility to consumers, driving traffic to retail stores. Personalized and targeted promotions can keep your buyers connected to local distribution points even when they travel.

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13. Manage risk

Along with the opportunity that data opens for your business comes the responsibility of protecting it. Security measures must be implemented across every channel and every link in your supply chain. The cloud enables technology teams to implement continuous, company-wide monitoring for potential breaches and fraud in order to effectively manage risk. With comprehensive security measures in place, you can offer more secure shopping experiences to further enhance your brand.

14. Manage products with agility

Today’s shopper is overwhelmed with too many choices, making product management — with clear understanding of your customers’ preferences — critical to success. Careful curation of products saves your customer time and builds brand allegiance. The cloud enables management and analysis of the volumes of data you collect. Through machine learning and predictive models, you build your understanding of customer preferences and product selection.

15. Evaluate the Internet of Things (IoT)

Advances in connectivity, devices and processing power of the cloud are unlocking the potential of the Internet of Things (IoT). Distributors and retailers that use connected devices to streamline in-store shopping and communicate with shoppers reduce friction and expand opportunities. Automatically check out customers’ purchases, track real-time shopping behaviors and send tailored offers through mobile devices. IoT enables retailers to blend the online and offline — the digital and the physical — into one seamless, omnichannel shopping experience.

You can achieve the omnichannel customer experiences and supply chain optimization described in this white paper with DXC Advanced Distribution. Delivering efficient and cost-effective warehousing, financial, logistics and business intelligence solutions that support distribution processes and customer needs, DXC Eclipse understands the new age of distribution. The DXC Eclipse team brings years of industry experience to your implementation. We’ll share industry best practices that distribution companies use to deliver industry-leading customer management, vendor management, inventory management, pricing and costing and warehouse processes.

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Why DXC Eclipse?

DXC Eclipse, a practice within DXC Technology, helps enterprise and midmarket companies accelerate digital transformation, solve business challenges and deliver intelligent solutions that make a difference for clients, employees and partners. We believe in delivering expertise, project transparency and excellent customer service in every engagement.

With team members in North America, EMEA, Asia and Australia-New Zealand, we are uniquely positioned to deliver Microsoft Dynamics 365, ERP, CRM, business process, analytics and collaboration solutions to clients across the globe. The largest independent Microsoft Dynamics partner in the world, DXC Eclipse serves more than 4,000 clients across multiple industries. Our practice delivers services and solutions.

About DXC Technology

DXC Technology (DXC: NYSE) is the world’s leading independent, end-to-end IT services company, serving nearly 6,000 private and public-sector clients from a diverse array of industries across 70 countries. The company’s technology independence, global talent and extensive partner network deliver transformative digital offerings and solutions that help clients harness the power of innovation to thrive on change. DXC Technology is recognized among the best corporate citizens globally. For more information, visit www.dxc.technology.

© 2018 DXC Technology Company. All rights reserved. ECL-060. July 2018

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