More than 90 percent of resellers feel frustrated with distribution partners despite needing support more than ever as they undergo digital transformation.
Westcoast Research entitled ‘What UK Resellers Really Think’, surveyed over 200 UK resellers earlier this year to unearth the services and support most needed in the channel.
Among businesses with a turnover of between £50- £500 million, Westcoast found that 92 percent of VARs and MSPs feel frustrated with their distributors over lack of contact and flexibility.
More than 92 per cent said they view digital transformation as an opportunity to get closer to customers and 89 percent felt that distribution can help them with their strategies. However, less than half of these respondents (41 percent) said they were ready to embark on the digital transformation journey in the next 12-24 months.
The research found a gap between what businesses know they should be focusing on in the future and what they feel they can confidently do at this moment in time, with cloud services (64 percent) and machine learning (53 percent) noted by resellers as key growth areas in the coming two years
When it comes to building this growth, 60 percent said they look to distributors for customer insights, while 51 per cent said they rely on leveraging marketing advice. 44 percent said they needed distribution for market forecasts.
Despite these findings, Westcoast’s report also warned that distributors should not get complacent in addressing the growing frustrations felt by resellers. While 100 per cent of surveyed businesses said they were ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with their distribution partners, just eight per cent said they have ‘no frustrations’ at all.
Half of respondents (50 percent) feel their distributors don’t offer ‘total solutions’, while 56 percent are frustrated by pricing flexibility. Other pain points include a lack of product flexibility (47 percent) and a lack of personal contact (40 percent), while 60 percent said they prefer to buy stock from retailers.
