Allen Timmons 
The process of buying and selling has changed drastically from when we were first established (all the way back in 1932). And our industry as a whole has been laggard in the adoption of technology and ecommerce – funny for an industry who was leading the way in the early 1900s with automation innovation.
Ecommerce (electronic commerce) has virtually eliminated the need for human interaction across all types of goods and services, be it clothing, cars, barber shops. Many businesses already have a multi–channel strategy for how customers order and purchase their offerings.
However, a large number of material suppliers you interact with are old school, taking orders over the phone or from customers walking into the store. Email and website order forms have slowly increased in popularity, making the purchasing process more streamlined. It has remained this way because the purchasing of commodities often requires expertise, buyers value relationships, and it generally delivers the best value.
We are beginning to see a shift though. Certain types of customers, those with a single purchase in mind or know exactly what they want, desire the speed and ease of online shopping. But, we still have a large number of custom orders and buyers who leverage our expertise to select the right products to order.
The big question: how should we balance our sales channels to give our customers the best expert support, variety of options, and incredible buying experience they deserve.
In this series we’ll discuss our perception of the various sales channels and how they apply to our different types of buyers and how we’re working to be the best wire supplier in the industry.
If you’ve purchased wire from us in the past, or are considering a future purchase, leave us a comment and let us know how you prefer to interact with your wire suppliers!
