Pritchard added that many distributors may find a need to customize their e-commerce offerings to meet the specific needs of their customers. "If their boiler plate e-commerce solutions do not allow for this flexibility, they may fall short in today's competitive market," she said.
Once a provider has been chosen, however, and the site is up and running, distributors then need to be able to promote it and its capabilities. One of the best ways to do so, said Pritchard, is to provide a CD presentation so that salespeople can call on customers and go through a canned presentation that has been customized for the prospect. They can then follow up with a live demo. "Each of these clients will create a demo site that has product information that they can share with their prospect. And, if it's an important enough prospect, they may take time to create a more relevant site.