Wholesalers can believe that e-commerce won't become the norm in our industry, but the numbers don't support that view.
Wholesalers of various sizes can point to lots of reasons why not to jump on the e-commerce bandwagon: Electronic commerce is expensive to set up; the technology is always changing; contractor's aren't ready for it; manufacturers aren't ready for it; and the industry lacks standards for distributors to follow.
These reluctant wholesalers may find the "just do it" slogan of the ASA's Blue Ribbon Summit on e-commerce to be a little sketchy on providing reasons why they should get involved. The thinking of Summit participants is that wholesalers and manufacturers have talked for so long about the likes of EDI, electronic funds transfer and doing business on the Internet, it's time to actually do something.