The all-virtual B2B Next 2020 kicks off Tuesday morning with keynoters addressing the game-changing impact of COVID-19 on B2B ecommerce and how B2B buyers and sellers of all sizes can thrive and survive in difficult times.

Each day, the third annual B2B Next will lead off with multiple keynote sessions from some of the highest-profile executives in B2B ecommerce. Attendees can click in and view and hear keynoters from digital-first distribution and manufacturing company executives such as W.W. Grainger Inc. CEO D.G. Macpherson, Graybar Electrical Supply CEO Kathy Mazzarella, Procter & Gamble Inc. executive vice president Tim Knavish and Elite Sportswear CEO Girisha Chandraraj.

Keynoters also include Dawn Foods CEO Carrie Jones-Barber, Fisher Healthcare Head of Strategy, Commercial Marketing & Data Science Meeta Kratz, and RBC Capital Markets managing director Mark Mahaney.

Grainger’s and Graybar’s digital strategies

Macpherson will speak at 11:00 to 11:40 a.m. Central Daylight Time and discuss why B2B ecommerce is already a big priority for Grainger, the largest distributor of maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) products. But he’ll also how Grainger, which already does more than half of its annual $11.5 billion in sales through electronic commerce—is busy transforming its digital strategy even more, especially as the coronavirus continues to disrupt the U.S. and global economy.

From 11:40 a.m. to 12:10 p.m. CDT, Mazzarella will discuss how she navigated Graybar through the massive disruption caused by COVID-19. From doubling down on critical short-term tactics (e.g., expanded delivery models) to implementing new long-term strategies focused on creating more intimate customer relationships, she will share important personal and professional lessons learned in 2020.

Finally on Tuesday, noted web and ecommerce analyst Mahaney will provide timely perspective on why the B2B ecommerce market is undergoing a sea change as the COVID-19 pandemic accelerates the pace at which business buyers are now purchasing goods and services for their organization online, and how disrupters such as Amazon Business are taking market share away from less digitally-focused B2B sellers. Mahaney, who in late 2019 wrote an eye-opening report on how Amazon Business is single-handedly transforming B2B digital commerce, will also analyze the current B2B ecommerce market, foreshadow what lies ahead and who wins—and loses—in a new era of digital commerce.

 A look inside growth formulas

On Day 2, Wednesday, attendees also will hear from four other keynote speakers:

• 11 to 11:15 a.m. CDT. Meeta Kratz, head of strategy, commercial marketing and data science at Fisher Healthcare, will discuss how her company is using data science to optimize integrated selling within the precision medicine and point of care patient testing and laboratory diagnostics space.
• 11:15 to 11:40 a.m. CDT. Tim Knavish, executive vice president at PPG, will discuss how the world’s leading paint, coatings and specialty materials company is driving digitization within its industry. He will share important insights about how PPG is infusing direct and indirect commerce opportunities into key elements of both the demand chain and the supply chain.
• 11:40 a.m. to 12:05 p.m. CDT. Carrie Jones-Barber will talk about how Dawn Foods, one of the world’s largest bakery supply companies, has gone “all in” on ecommerce—recently launching a world-class digital commerce platform built from scratch.
• 12:05 to 12:30 p.m. CDT. Girisha Chandraraj, CEO of Elite Sportswear, will discuss how he stripped down a major part of Elite’s B2B business and fundamentally changed its ecommerce strategy, fulfillment infrastructure and sales model.

The B2B Next 2020 conference and exhibition—with the tagline, “Accelerate change and embrace the ecommerce challenge”—is as an all-virtual event on Sept. 29 and 30. Registration is open at B2BNext.net.

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week, covering technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, vice president of B2B and Market Research Development, at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @markbrohan.

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