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Ecommerce has long been a crucial driver of MSC Industrial Supply Co.’s growth strategy. But the multibillion-dollar distributor says it plans to continue enhancing its digital channel, president and CEO Erik Gershwind said this week.

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Total ecommerce sales increased 0.05% year over year to $595.8 million for the fiscal second quarter ended March 4, amounting to 62% of total sales. In comparison, total sales increased 0.04% to $961.6 million.

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“We think we can be doing better,” Gershwind said on a second-quarter earnings call, adding that improvements were already well under way with digital technology under the leadership of MSC’s first chief digital officer.

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John Hill, chief digital and information officer, MSC Industrial Supply Co.

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“It’s been nearly a year since John Hill joined us as MSC’s first chief digital and information officer, and progress with our technology function is encouraging,” Gershwind said, according to a Seeking Alpha transcript of the earnings call. “We are enhancing our ecommerce functionality and expect to see incremental benefits in the coming quarters.”

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Kristen Actis-Grande, chief financial officer, also noted that one of MSC’s priorities “is digital, which includes all aspects of MSCs digital engagement with customers, suppliers and associates.”

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When asked on the earnings call how MSC was growing sales among smaller companies and government agencies as well as larger companies, Gerswhind again cited ecommerce as critical to its strategy.

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“Ecommerce has application across the board, all customer sizes,” Gershwind said. “But certainly for smaller customers, the enhancements we’re putting in place, we’re already doing pretty well in ecommerce.”

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He added, “We are improving our product information and customer data, making for a better customer service experience and a more efficient business.”

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Ecommerce sales were also helped by MSC’s growth of internet-connected vending machines. “Vending machine net sales grew mid-teens year over year and reached $89.4 million, representing 15% of total net sales,” MSC said.

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MSC also continues to growth through acquisition. In January, it completed the acquisition of two Ohio-based distributors: Buckeye Industrial Supply Co., a metalworking products distributor that caters to manufacturers, and True-Edge Grinding, which brings MSC “new capabilities in customer tool manufacturing and grinding,” Gershwind said.

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John Hill, MSC’s chief digital and information officer, will give a keynote address at Digital Commerce 360’s EnvisionB2B 2023 Conference & Exhibition in June in Chicago.

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Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week, covering technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact editor Paul Demery at paul@digitalcommerce360.com and follow him on Twitter @pdemery.

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MSC Industrial cites ecommerce as key to its growth

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