AD Welcomes Almost 300 Distributors to eCommerce Summit
March 7, 2019
From February 25 to 27, 2019, AD welcomed more than 280 AD independent distributors and service providers across 7 industries and 3 countries to the third annual AD eCommerce Summit in Fort Worth, Texas. Over the last three years, AD has normalized and attributed over 4 million SKUs and 88 AD member companies have launched their digital branches with AD eContent.
Caroline Ernst, AD VP eCommerce Solutions, commented, “It is remarkable what our members have accomplished over the last three years. Independents are now competing and winning in the digital world. And we at AD are honoured to play a part in that win. AD is committed to leveraging our scale to help save our members time and money when it comes to their eCommerce initiatives.”
The 2019 AD eCommerce Summit agenda was entirely composed of member-curated content and focused on key strategies to help independent distributors win in an evolving digital world. Attendees could tailor their personal agendas to meet their most pressing eCommerce needs. For the first time, AD introduced eCommerce platform networking sessions for and one-on-one strategic booth sessions where attendees could seek advice from eCommerce experts.
Jack Templin, AD Chief Programs Officer and President of Industrial Divisions added, “Networking is continuously rated by our members as being one of the top benefits of their AD membership. The opportunity to introduce eCommerce networking expands this benefit to the eCommerce subject matter experts within our member companies. Sharing best practices and lessons learned can save our members money and time, helping them accelerate the eCommerce journey.”
During the awards ceremony, members were recognized for their demonstrated leadership and commitment to the continual advancement of the AD eCommerce Program to benefit the entire AD community and for their innovation in the creation and adoption of their Digital Branch utilizing AD eContent to build their business into the future.
The following AD eContent subscribers were presented with eCommerce awards:
• AD Industrial eCommerce Leadership — GT Midwest
• AD Bearings & PT eCommerce Leadership — Purvis Industries, Ltd.
• AD Electrical eCommerce Leadership — State Electric Supply Co. Inc.
• AD Plumbing eCommerce Leadership — Capitol Group
• AD HVAC eCommerce Leadership — Behler-Young Co.
• AD Pipe, Valves & Fittings eCommerce Leadership — Cooney Brothers, Inc.
• AD eCommerce Innovator of the Year — Quality Mill Supply Co. Inc.
Dave Gravely, VP eCommerce & Strategic Sales at State Electric Supply Co. Inc. shared, “The eCommerce support and solutions we’ve received from AD have helped State Electric compete on a level playing field with the big players without needing a small army to get it done. This award is a reflection of the level of investment made by AD to help us win.”
According to Jake Fegely, COO of Cooney Brothers, Inc., “Without AD eCommerce Solutions, we would not have the website we have; we could not have done it on our own. AD was truly the partner we needed to launch our digital branch.”
AD is the largest member owned contractor and industrial products wholesale buying/marketing group in North America. AD provides independent distributors and manufacturers of construction and industrial products with support and resources that accelerate growth. The 600 plus independently owned members span nine industries and three countries, with annual sales exceeding US$41 billion.
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