Today’s B2B buyers expect the same thing across every channel: immediate access to complete, accurate, and actionable product information.
25% of them now prefer a fully digital, rep-free experience—and that number is rising fast. Even those who still buy through reps or distributors do most of their research online. If they can’t find what they need, they don’t wait. They choose someone else.
That shift has major implications for product data readiness—especially in channel-driven businesses like manufacturing and distribution.
Here’s what happens when the data isn’t there:
· Distributors delay listings or stop selling products altogether
· Channel partners lose trust and prioritize suppliers with better content
· Buyers drop out mid-funnel due to missing or inconsistent specs
· Sales teams spend more time cleaning up than selling
· Launches slip, opportunities close late, and high-potential SKUs underperform
One industry report estimated that poor product data costs B2B companies up to 15% of annual revenue—not through IT inefficiency, but through missed sales, slower growth, and competitive leakage. In industrial sectors, the number is likely higher.
And while many companies have invested in PIM or MDM platforms, those systems were built to manage data—not to prepare it. So the real work of standardizing, validating, and syndicating still falls to overworked teams using Excel and manual workflows.
That’s not sustainable.