To gain a better understanding of the online purchasing practices of smaller electrical contractors, we developed a survey on this topic in late 2014 and sent it out to a select group of our readers in January. The response rate to our survey request was fantastic, and we captured information from nearly 550 contractors. We used the feedback and the data from this survey to create this month’s cover story — “Point, Click, Purchase,” which starts on page 18. The most basic takeaway from the survey data reveals nearly two-thirds of electrical contractors currently buy some type of electrical product online, and their most important motivating factor for doing so is price.
So this leads to what I feel is one of the most important discussion points around the topic of online buying — from whom do you order products? Do you use the online portals of traditional electrical distributors/wholesalers (those you’ve dealt with for years and forged lasting relationships with) or the websites of non-traditional product suppliers? Our survey data shows that electrical contractors that do purchase products online do so with traditional electrical distributors nearly 80% of the time. This number really didn’t surprise me. Does it surprise you? I also think this figure should make electrical distributors feel pretty good about themselves. But on the flip side, I have to think that the other 20% makes them a bit nervous — especially when our survey respondents noted Amazon.com as one of those preferred new non-traditional buying channels.
To gain a little more insight on how contractors view their existing relationships with traditional electrical distributors, we also included an open-ended question in the survey. The question asked participants to share with us what they would like their traditional distributors to take note of about their existing buyer-supplier relationship. This is where things got really interesting. Most comments could be summed up as follows: stock more products; maintain adequate inventory levels on commonly used products; deliver products on time; and improve the technical proficiency of your employees. The comments on stocking and delivery aren’t earth-shattering in nature. These issues have been on the table for years. However, the comments related to the technical proficiency of counter and sales-type personnel are eye-opening.
If contractors don’t feel like they’re getting a high level of service from their traditional distributor — and they have to go out and do their own product research — then they might just decide to buy their products online through non-traditional sources of supply. In fact, several survey participants echoed this in their completed surveys. One product area where this was most evident was lighting and LED products. The rapid development of new technology in the LED field in recent years has generated a lot of uncertainty and confusion for those who install these lamps and luminaires. This is clearly one area where traditional distributors really need to step up their game.