With distributors keen to maximize sales via digital channels, ABB’s two recent digital distribution workshops could not have come at a more opportune time. The two sessions ‒ one for Saudi Arabia distributors and one for UAE distributors ‒ demonstrated how our Digital-Enabled Sales strategy can support their online transformations and offer new opportunities to grow, together with ABB.
The workshops, which were hosted across two days in Dubai, presented ABB’s Distributor Online Acceleration (DOA) Program designed to maximize our distributors’ online ABB sales and boost their omnichannel growth. “Our experience has shown that adopting an omnichannel approach can increase revenue, with distributors who have embraced ABB’s omnichannel tools reporting constant double-digit growth since adopting these strategies”, said Luca Zanella, Global eCommerce Distribution Channel Manager at ABB.
What is the DOA program?
The DOA Program is a multiple step framework, which offers an extensive toolbox to enhance distributors’ online presence and maximize sales. It can be customized depending on the size and budget of the distributor, with ABB’s local team selecting the most appropriate enablers within the framework.
This might include the development of distributor web shops, shop-in-shops, or brand pages, so that distributors are fully supported in developing an online presence that works for their geographical region, their customer demographic and their specific platforms.
We also save time and money for distributors by providing optimized digital data for the products in our portfolio, arranged into batches according to the products sold and the countries being sold to.
In addition, the DOA Program offers dedicated digital marketing plans and packages, designed to drive customer traffic to distributors’ web shops, which creates online browsing opportunities, and drives ecommerce purchases or leads for offline engagement.
Finally, we offer access to the ABB eFinder – an inventory locator system designed specifically to easily support customers in finding out where to buy ABB Electrification products from authorized distributors in their region. Tools like this allow distributors to act quickly when a customer requires something that they need for their project.
Throughout the program, global and local teams stay in regular contact with distributors and track the initiative’s performance using dashboards, so that targets and actions can be tweaked and adjusted if necessary.
New insights about digital sales
16 distributors from Saudi Arabia and the UAE attended the two sessions hosted by ABB and left the workshops armed with new insights about the digital sales landscape and a greater understanding of their opportunities to grow their online presence.
Ejaz Shabbir, Digital Media Executive at UAE-based Bin Ghalib, said: “There were many interesting discussions during the day, but the most valuable point for us was learning about the ABB eFinder solution. It’s an easy way to find products and suppliers in a specific region and we were particularly impressed with the front-end user experience. As a distributor, I believe this will help us reach our customers more quickly, as they can be sent directly from eFinder through to our website.”
Firas Alashram, Commercial Director at Al Marshad Trading Co, said: "The challenges we are facing at the moment fall mostly within two prominent areas - delivery periods and availability. With ABB’s E-Finder tool the customer is able to find the products they are looking for quickly, with information about availability and delivery times, as the tool provides up-to-date information for products from all ABB distributors within the region."
This was not simply a knowledge sharing session; it was an open dialogue with our distributors to ensure we address their most important challenges. Distribution is a team sport. And we are passionate believers that distributors hold the key to success.
These workshops were a great opportunity for us to meet our distributors face to face and demonstrate the power of collaboration. We were delighted that every distributor that attended our workshops felt that they could benefit from the tools we presented to them and had new confidence in their ability to excel in the digital arena and grow sales through an omnichannel approach.
