COVID-19 causes disruption for 83% of distributors and their supply chain

83% percent of companies reported supply chain disruptions in some capacity due to COVID-19, with it having a highly negative affect on 30% of those surveyed including no sales due to closures. On the opposite end of the scale 10% of businesses stayed the same and 7% of businesses experience a positive outcome due to increased consumer demand.

Andrew Butt, CEO of Enable said:
‘We commissioned this survey to help us not only to learn and improve our product, but more importantly the lives of sales, purchasing and finance teams who negotiate and execute rebate deals throughout the supply chain. Rebates drive behaviour and, when implemented correctly, will help to fuel the economic recovery by providing the right incentives to the right trading partners at the right times.’

Other significant findings include:

• More than half (52%) are still not sure what measures they will put in place to mitigate the impact now and after restrictions are lifted
• 47% of businesses have seen their revenue decrease between 10% - 80%
• 31% of those surveyed took advantage of the UK governments furlough scheme.
• 33% said they have seen closures in some kind especially those in the construction industry (10%)
• 14% are finding it difficult to sell their goods due to customers being closed
• Only 15% are working in collaboration with supplier’s

B2B deal related findings include:

Being experts in B2B deals, Enable wasn’t surprised to find that companies are still using outdated processes such as spreadsheets (34%) and traditional ways of signing of their trading agreements (44%). Plus, 64% found many challenges with their current deal management system such as key person dependency and time consuming. Therefore, this enforces the need for the digitalization of deal management for many sales, purchasing and finance teams.

More than half (56%) also said they are renegotiating the general terms of their trading agreements to assist in the recovery once the pandemic restrictions are lifted.

Methodology

The charity calls were conducted in Q2, the survey’s 100 respondents were from US and UK businesses involved in rebates and B2B deals.

Respondent roles range from operations (16%) to CXO (13%) plus we spoke to those involved in finance (11%) and procurement (9%) across the supply chain. The largest quantity of responders at 47% were part of the commercial team, who arguably are on the front line of their respective businesses with the most telling insights.

Enable also had a charity element to this survey, in total they will be donating $2500 to the Coronavirus Relief Fund in the US and $2500 to the Stratford-upon-Avon foodbank in the UK.

To explore the findings in more details, download the report via the link.

About Enable

So much more than rebate management, Enable’s software helps suppliers, distributors and wholesalers to drive mutually profitable growth, while improving cash flow and reducing risk. Leading manufacturers and distributors in the UK and North America depend on their software to collaboratively plan, execute and track complex trading agreements involving millions in rebates, discounts, royalties, purchase income and back margins. For more information visit us at www.enable.com