Manufacturers get it—the global COVID-19 pandemic changed the very nature of how U.S. companies do business. What was once physical and manual—in-person sales calls, manual order processing, swinging by a distribution branch for an order pick-up—is now entirely more digital.

And this trend is not a temporary one, according to data and analysis contained in the newly published 2021 B2B Manufacturing Report from Digital Commerce 360.

More manufacturers now understand that business buyers are now making digital purchasing a permanent change in how they procure products and services for their organizations. But many manufacturers are struggling to understand how to digitally transform almost all aspects of their business— from supply chain management to order processing and delivery—to satisfy the demands of increasing numbers of online buyers. U.S. manufacturers also are struggling with how to covert first-time pandemic buyers into long-term digital customers and where and how to grow online in a post COVID-19 business world.

The pandemic had an impact on manufacturers’ B2B ecommerce sales. In 2020, B2B ecommerce sales for manufacturers grew year over year by 6.7% to about $458.7 billion from $430.0 billion in 2019, based on an estimate by Digital Commerce 360. The 2020 growth rate, however, was about three times slower than the prior-year rate, when B2B ecommerce sales for manufacturers grew by about 21%, according to The 2021 B2B Manufacturing Report.

Many factors accounted for a slower ecommerce growth rate in 2020, even as many buyers relied more than in the past on the online channel. The COVID-19 pandemic, which caused many parts of the economy to close or at least slow, was a big contributing factor. But supply chain disruptions, the closing down or scaling back of traditional sales and distribution.

Many manufacturers are struggling to change online with the times—but some are growing their online channel significantly. For example, for the 2020 fiscal year ended June 30, The Clorox Co., a maker of well-known cleaning brands, reported that ecommerce B2B ecommerce will grow in 2021 for U.S. manufacturers.

But the big question is, by how much? The certainty for U.S. manufacturers is this: The coronavirus will permanently accelerate the pace of B2B ecommerce, creating digital winners and losers in its wake. The 2021 B2B Manufacturing Report gives all the players a chance to read the scorecard, get into the game in a bigger way—or get left behind.

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.