Editor’s note: In today’s rapidly evolving B2B landscape, balancing the complexities of serving contractors both online and offline presents a unique set of challenges for distributors. ADI Global Distribution, a distributor of security, audio-visual (AV), and low-voltage products, has positioned itself as a trusted partner for contractors, installers, and resellers by offering a comprehensive range of products and strong customer support.

Stu Tisdale, senior vice president and chief experience officer, ADI Global Distribution

However, as the B2B sector increasingly shifts toward digital solutions, distributors must navigate the complexities of delivering seamless customer experiences while managing complex pricing structures, real-time inventory, and fast order fulfillment.

In this Q&A, Stu Tisdale, senior vice president and chief experience officer at ADI Global Distribution, discusses how the company is adapting to these challenges by enhancing its ecommerce capabilities, improving technology integration, and redefining success metrics in an omnichannel environment. Tisdale highlights the critical role of flexible enterprise architecture and cloud-based solutions in ensuring accurate real-time pricing and product availability. He also underscores the importance of AI-driven search functions and automated data acquisition to improve the contractor buying experience.

Furthermore, Tisdale provides insights into how ADI measures success beyond traditional shopping cart revenue, emphasizing the importance of customer engagement with the website as a key indicator of influence on buying decisions. He explains how the company is balancing self-service options with human expertise and strategically deploying automation to enhance customer service without compromising the individualized touch that contractors value. This conversation provides a detailed look into how ADI is positioning itself to thrive in a competitive B2B market by leveraging ecommerce tools and customer-centric strategies.

Digital Commerce 360: What challenges do you face in effectively serving contractors both online and offline?

Tisdale: Effectively serving contractors both online and offline presents several challenges. In B2B, especially with distributors, your website often functions as a window into your ERP system. Most ERP systems, however, are not very flexible unless they undergo expensive and time-consuming customization. This lack of flexibility limits how quickly you can resolve poor customer experiences that stem from ERP-related issues. If the root of the problem lies within an inflexible ERP, improving customer experience can be slow and difficult.

Another major challenge is maintaining consistent pricing across all channels. B2B companies that serve contractors typically allow sales teams to adjust contract pricing based on factors like purchase volume, product mix, and project size. As a result, your website must reflect these customized prices in real time. Even a 30-minute delay can create friction with a contractor who has already agreed to a price with a sales rep and expects to see the same pricing when placing an order online. Solving this requires modern cloud-based pricing software that can function as a sole source of truth for both your ERP and website, ensuring that pricing is always accurate and up to date.

DC 360: What are the essential ecommerce capabilities ADI Global requires today?

Tisdale: Serving contractors effectively requires three essential ecommerce capabilities. First, the shopping experience must be fast and highly optimized. Most contractors have short ordering cycles and need products within 24 to 48 hours. Their focus is on completing installations, which means they have little patience for slow load times or complicated checkout processes. A smooth, fast shopping experience helps them get what they need quickly and get back to work.

Second, a powerful on-site search function is critical. Patience with poor search performance is at an all-time low. Contractors expect to find exactly what they need quickly, even if their search terms are complex or partially incomplete. AI and machine learning can significantly enhance search capabilities by improving accuracy and relevance, ensuring that customers find the right products with minimal effort.

Third, accurate product availability and delivery times are more important than just fast shipping. Contractors need to plan their installations with precision, so knowing exactly how many units are available at each location and receiving accurate delivery estimates is crucial. Being able to see detailed stock levels and delivery windows allows contractors to schedule their work efficiently, improving both profitability and customer satisfaction. A strong post-purchase experience—complete with real-time order tracking and automated updates—further enhances the overall customer experience.

DC 360: How do you define and measure success in the evolving distribution landscape?

Tisdale: Success in B2B e-commerce is often measured by shopping cart revenue, but this metric tends to understate the actual influence of the website. Many contractors use the website to gather information about products, inventory levels, and pricing before completing the purchase through other channels.

To capture the website’s broader impact, ADI measures the percentage of weekly revenue that comes from customers who engaged with the website that same week. This metric provides a more accurate picture of how much the website is influencing customer behavior and decision-making. At ADI, this figure is three times the share of actual shopping cart revenue, reflecting the significant role the website plays in supporting the overall buying process. The goal is to see a steady upward trend in this metric, indicating increasing digital penetration across the customer base.

DC 360: Why is understanding technology integration and scalability critical for your business?

Tisdale: Technology integration and scalability are critical because B2B environments are inherently complex. The variety of products, pricing structures, and customer behaviors creates a challenging operational landscape. To manage this complexity, many B2B companies adopt an adaptive SaaS approach, selecting specialized tools to address specific use cases.

While this strategy allows for flexibility and customization, it also creates a fragmented tech stack that can be difficult to manage. Effective enterprise architecture is essential to ensure that these systems communicate seamlessly with your core e-commerce platform. Poor integration can lead to data silos, operational inefficiencies, and technical debt as systems and coding languages evolve. Hiring experienced enterprise architects who can design and manage these integrations is essential to maintaining a scalable and resilient technology infrastructure. Without strong integration capabilities, even the most advanced digital tools can fail to deliver their full value.

DC 360: How are you adapting your business models with digital tools while minimizing disruption and internal resistance?

Tisdale: Adapting business models with digital tools requires a strategic approach to minimize disruption and internal pushback. The first step is to fully understand the capabilities of the existing technology stack. Each SaaS product should have an internal product owner responsible for understanding the vendor’s roadmap, current features, and any unused capabilities. Many business problems remain unsolved simply because the available technology isn’t being fully leveraged.

The second step is to position digital tools as an enhancement to the sales process rather than a replacement for sales teams. For example, many sales reps prefer to oversee customer quotes directly. However, contractors often shop after business hours. By enabling the website to generate quotes automatically based on business rules, you empower customers to get the information they need without undermining the sales team’s role. This approach increases customer convenience while preserving the value of personal sales relationships.

DC 360: How do you automate supplier data acquisition and ensure up-to-date product information for contractor customers?

Tisdale: There are three primary methods for acquiring product data: directly from manufacturers, through third-party aggregators, or by creating your own content. Each approach has trade-offs in terms of cost and speed.

Direct data from manufacturers is typically free, but it can be slow and requires an ongoing effort to maintain accuracy. Third-party aggregators provide faster access to data, but there’s a cost involved. Creating proprietary content gives you the highest level of control and customization, but it is also the most expensive option.

A hybrid approach is often the most effective. Using aggregators for speed, manufacturers for core data, and proprietary content for high-margin or strategic products allows you to balance cost, accuracy, and speed. This ensures that contractors have access to accurate and up-to-date product information, improving their ability to make purchasing decisions confidently.

DC 360: What challenges do you face in maintaining accurate product data, and which technologies or practices have been most effective?

Tisdale: Maintaining accurate product data is an ongoing challenge. Data hygiene requires constant attention, as outdated or incorrect information can lead to operational inefficiencies and customer frustration. In many cases, manufacturers are the only source of updated product data, which creates a dependency on their timelines and accuracy.

Setting up direct connections with manufacturers’ product information management (PIM) systems allows for real-time data syndication, improving accuracy and reducing manual effort. AI and machine learning tools are also improving the ability to clean, standardize, and update large data sets. These tools are becoming increasingly effective at handling complex product data, making it easier to maintain accurate and consistent information on a scale.

DC 360: What strategies do you use to create seamless customer experiences across channels?

Tisdale: Creating a seamless customer experience across online and offline channels starts with understanding the customer journey. Journey mapping helps identify friction points and key moments of truth, both in the customer experience and in internal business processes. This insight allows you to eliminate bottlenecks and improve overall service quality.

Modern data lakes also play a key role in improving customer experience. By combining customer data from online interactions, in-store purchases, sales calls, and third-party sources, you can create a 360-degree view of customer behavior. This allows for more personalized service and better-targeted recommendations, increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Balancing self-service with human expertise requires careful testing and customer feedback. Self-service is ideal for simple, time-sensitive tasks like invoice payments or order changes. However, complex issues still require human involvement. Contractors value speed and convenience, so self-service should focus on making straightforward tasks as fast and easy as possible.

While chatbots are becoming more common in B2C, contractors remain skeptical of their ability to manage complex B2B issues. Carefully testing chatbot functionality and collecting customer feedback is essential before rolling out automated support tools on a scale. The goal should be to use automation to enhance customer service rather than replace it.

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