For more than 15 years, office product dealers have been told that success in e-commerce depends on one thing: driving customers to a website, hoping they’ll log in, search through sprawling catalogs, and complete their orders. But in reality, this “build it and hope they come” model has failed most dealers—and the landscape is only getting tougher.
The traditional e-commerce platforms pushed onto dealers were built for consumers, not business buyers. These systems require customers to do all the work: logging in, finding the right product, verifying pricing, building carts, and checking out. It’s a clunky, friction-filled process that no longer aligns with how business procurement actually works.
Meanwhile, Amazon Business has quietly rewritten the rules. By offering AI-driven procurement, dynamic pricing, and automated reordering workflows, Amazon has made it easier for businesses to buy from them than from their local dealer. The result? Dealers are losing long-term customers—not because of price, but because the experience with legacy platforms is broken.
Dealers who rely on transactional, web-based ordering models are exposed. They’re caught in a no-win scenario:
Customer engagement is minimal: Most traffic comes from existing customers. New customers rarely find dealer sites.
Search is inefficient: Business buyers don’t want to “shop” like consumers. They want fast, automated workflows.
Margins are under pressure: Dealers lower prices to compete with Amazon, but still lose customers due to convenience.
The more effort a business customer must put in to buy from a dealer, the more likely they are to defect to a platform that makes it effortless.
Digitol’s e-commerce platform—MyStore—was built from the ground up for B-commerce (business commerce). It replaces the legacy mindset with automation, intelligence, and flexibility. Dealers regain control over how they do business, without being trapped by distributor-dominated systems.
Here’s how Digitol stands apart:
Vendor-Agnostic Catalogs: Dealers choose who they buy from and what they sell. They’re not locked into a single wholesaler’s catalog.
Automated Pricing Intelligence: Sophisticated algorithms blend MSRP, MAP, cost, and market price to protect margins and ensure profitability.
Catalog Automation: Real-time updates to product listings, descriptions, and inventory keep the site fresh and relevant—with zero manual effort.
Control over Promotions: Dealers decide which products to feature and which to push, enabling responsive, targeted marketing strategies.
With Digitol, the dealer is in control—not the ERP vendor, not the distributor, and definitely not the catalog.
Digitol’s system isn’t just about managing a website—it’s about embedding procurement into the buyer’s workflow. Whether through QR-based reordering, AI-driven product mapping, or predictive fulfillment, Digitol creates a low-friction experience that locks in loyalty and reduces churn.
In an era where Amazon is gaining share not because of pricing, but because of ease, Digitol levels the playing field—and puts the power back in the hands of independent dealers.
Related Reading:
Digitol E-Commerce Tiers Explained: Explore which MyStore e-commerce tier—Standard, Prestige, or VIP—best fits your business goals, from launching online to scaling with full automation