How B2B Online Ordering Helps Manufacturers and Distributors Grow Revenue.

B2B buyers expect easier ways to research and place orders, but many manufacturers and distributors still make customers work too hard. The opportunity isn’t just to put products online, it’s to make buying simpler while giving people more room for the human support that matters.

Episode Summary

What does it take to build a B2B e-commerce experience that customers actually want to use? Ethan Giffin, founder and CEO of a B2B e-commerce agency, explores why customer friction can quietly cost manufacturers and distributors business and how a well-designed digital revenue channel can change that.

For business leaders weighing an e-commerce investment, this conversation offers a useful perspective on where to begin, why the project is bigger than launching a website, and how technology can support stronger customer relationships rather than replace them. It’s a look at the practical choices behind modern B2B buying and the difference between simply offering an online portal and making it genuinely easy to do business with you.

You’ll learn:

• How to identify friction by considering what customers experience emotionally as they try to order.
• Why an ERP product catalog may need clearer, customer-facing descriptions before it’s ready for e-commerce.
• How slow customer approvals and internal resistance can hold back digital adoption.
• Why sales teams should be involved in e-commerce planning and how online ordering can reduce routine order entry.
• How AI can help develop product catalogs from sources such as PDFs, CAD files, and images, with human review.
• Why B2B automation, such as cart reminders, should reflect longer buying and approval cycles.
• How a five-stage digital maturity model can help businesses choose a realistic starting point.
• Why digital commerce should be treated as an ongoing revenue channel, with pilots, customer adoption, and optimization not just a website project.
• How service businesses can apply e-commerce principles by making scheduling and rescheduling easier online.
• Why qualifying the right buyers can involve gates, while the transaction itself should be smooth.

Episode Chapters

00:00 The customer-friction question

00:38 Meet Ethan Giffin

02:02 The next wave of B2B e-commerce

05:22 Customer journeys and hidden friction

09:03 Catalog, ERP, and internal resistance

11:40 E-commerce as support for sales teams

15:46 Connecting digital and physical experiences

17:38 AI, automation, and product catalogs

20:46 Product content and discoverability

25:00 Adoption, revenue, and operational wins

30:47 Digital maturity and business growth

40:01 Challenges facing larger companies

45:02 The three-year implementation journey

50:10 E-commerce opportunities for service businesses

54:35 The key takeaway: make buying easier

57:30 Guest resources and closing

Memorable Quotes

• “The job is not to get rid of the sales team. It’s actually to give them more time to sell to their long tail customers and turn them into lighthouse customers, and not having to do the data entry.” — Ethan Giffin
• If you have a business, you should think about what kind of friction is in place for your customers today.” — Ethan Giffin
• Leveraging AI to create the catalog with human review and human editing has been a significant game changer for us.”

Resources Mentioned

• Closing the Digital Revenue Gap — Ethan Giffin’s book; free copies offered to listeners at b2becombook.com.
• B2B E-Commerce Agency — b2becommerceagency.com.
• B2B e-commerce workshops and summit — Workshops and the agency’s annual B2B e-commerce summit were mentioned.
• Platforms and services discussed: Shopify, WooCommerce, WordPress, Amazon, and Alibaba.

About the Guest

Ethan Giffin is the founder and CEO of a B2B e-commerce agency, formerly known as Groove Commerce. He works with mid-market manufacturers and distributors to develop digital revenue channels, including wholesale buying portals. He is also the author of Closing the Digital Revenue Gap.

Connect with the Guest

Website: b2becommerceagency.com

Book: b2becombook.com

About the Podcast

Welcome to the Amplified Business Show – where technology meets real-world solutions. This is the space for anyone looking to work smarter, communicate better, and build stronger operations through AV and tech-enabled systems. Subscribe to the Amplified Business Show for more straight-shot conversations on using IT, AV, and AI to build a more resilient business.

Connect with Jeff

Website (Communications Advisory Service, Inc.): casav.com

Website (Texas Collective Studio): texascollective.studio

LinkedIn: Jeff Price

SEO Tags

B2B ecommerce, B2B online ordering, wholesale ordering system, online sales for manufacturers, distributor sales portal, B2B buyer portal, digital sales strategy, ERP integration, product catalog management, customer self-service, digital transformation for manufacturers, manufacturing sales, distributor technology, online purchasing for businesses, sales automation, AI product data, customer experience, Ethan Giffin, Closing the Digital Revenue Gap, Amplified Business Show