As Wolfgang Falter states in his article: Customers increasingly search online and initiate digital contacts via websites, social networks, search engines and commercial platforms. Those distributors that they do not find online are no longer present in the relevant markets.

This development has led to many discussions within the chemical distribution industry on how best to address the issue of digitalization.

CHEManager asked executives and industry experts familiar with the development of e-commerce in chemical distribution to share their opinion on what needs to be done in order to survive in an increasingly competitive environment and how to deal with a possible disruption caused by new digital developments. We wanted to know:

Will e-commerce platforms in chemical distribution be more successful today than CheMatch, ChemSystems, ChemConnect et. al. were 20 years ago?

Who in the chemical supply chain from principal to distributor, logistics provider, online retailer, start-up to customer will be winners/losers in online distribution?

What do you (either alone or with partners) plan regarding online distribution?

Marko Grozdanovic: Digital products and services have become an integral part of our everyday lives. The changes we see compared to only a few years back, for example, are huge. Today, we are ordering groceries online, have our concert tickets on our smart watch and pay using our smartphones. In the industry, this digital transformation initially did not progress as quickly as in the private sector. Meanwhile, however, in the B2B sector, the digital transformation has taken up full speed. Customers today increasingly expect the simplicity, flexibility and availability of online tools and services — which they know from private use — in the professional sector as well. Therefore, online platforms and services are no longer a phenomenon from the consumer world but are becoming an essential part of the B2B sector as well. And this time they come to stay.

"Combining Tailored Products
and Services
with User-friendly Design"
Marko Grozdanovic, Managing director, BTC Europe

This is why we at BTC Europe have started early on to work on digital solutions to foster new business opportunities and provide our customers the service and support they are looking for. One of these solutions is the BTC Webshop, a digital sales platform for our customers, which we are currently rolling out. It combines tailored products and services with a user-friendly design. Due to the complete system integration customers can benefit from real-time information and a seamless user experience. The rollout with more than 300 customers has already begun and the insights and feedback we are gaining is very positive and promising. We are deeply committed to follow this digital pathway as it provides new opportunities to support our customers’ growth and clearly puts the customer at the center of our activities.