E-commerce for manufacturers without starting a war with your distributors

Yes, a channel-led manufacturer can sell online without its distributors treating the web store as a threat. The ones that pull it off are specific about what they sell direct. Replacement parts, small orders and items the distributor would rather not stock go in the cart. Production quantities, project work and anything that needs local service go to a distributor, and the site makes that hand-off easy. Then they say so publicly, in a short channel policy their reps can forward.

The stakes are higher than “should we add a buy button.” Most manufacturer orders already move electronically. In the 2022 Economic Census, the latest with this detail, e-shipments were 68.5% of the $7.05 trillion US manufacturers shipped, according to the Census Bureau’s manufacturing e-commerce statistics. Census counts an order as an e-shipment when price and terms are negotiated over the internet, an extranet, EDI, email or another online system (E-Stats methodology). E-commerce for manufacturers comes down to which orders you take directly, through which door, and how your channel gets paid.

How much do manufacturers already sell electronically?

The 2022 e-shipment share by subsector, for the industries this publication covers:

Manufacturing subsector (NAICS)	E-shipments as % of shipments, 2022
All manufacturing (31-33)	68.5%
Primary metals (331)	75.9%
Plastics and rubber products (326)	69.3%
Computer and electronic products (334)	66.3%
Machinery (333)	65.1%
Electrical equipment and components (335)	63.4%
Fabricated metal products (332)	56.2%
Wood products (321)	52.6%
Nonmetallic mineral products (327)	44.0%

Source: Census Bureau, Economic Census 2022, table EC2231ECOMM.

On the wholesale side, manufacturers’ own sales branches and offices booked 43.9% of their 2022 sales as e-commerce ($1.46 trillion of $3.33 trillion), calculated from the Annual Wholesale Trade Survey’s e-commerce table and sales table. Merchant wholesalers, the distributors a manufacturer sells through, run lower, and our guide to B2B e-commerce for distributors breaks their share down by product line.

Census does not split any of that volume by channel. Its definition counts EDI, extranet, email and other online systems alongside web carts, so these shares say how much business is already electronic, not how much of it comes through a web store. A web store aimed at the long tail is a different door, and it is the one that makes distributors nervous.

Which products belong in e-commerce for manufacturers who sell through distributors?

Start with what the distributor does not want to handle:

• Replacement and service parts for equipment already installed, especially low-dollar, slow-moving parts a distributor will not stock.
• Small orders below a distributor’s minimum or below the point where the margin covers the paperwork.
• Configured or made-to-order specials that the distributor would pass through to you anyway.
• End users outside any distributor’s territory, including remote sites and international buyers where you have no partner.

Then decide what stays in the channel:

• Production quantities and blanket orders.
• Project and spec-driven work where a local partner owns the relationship.
• Anything that needs installation, service or local inventory.

Write the line down by product family and order size, and share it with your distributors before the store launches.

How six channel-led manufacturers handle it

We looked at six manufacturers’ websites on Oct. 26, 2026, logged out, from the buyer’s side. Each sells through distributors, dealers or reps.

	What a visitor can do online	Where the distributor comes in	Seen at
Direct cart, distributor at checkout	Add parts to a pricing and availability form; check out with an account or as a guest	Pick a nearby distributor during checkout, or buy direct; separate distributor login	Carr Lane Mfg. (tooling components)
Published quote threshold	Buy at published prices with quantity breaks: $8.54 each at 1 piece down to $5.82 at 250 on the MSP-8-F shaft collar	Request Quote at 500 pieces; a distributors page organized by region	Ruland (shaft collars and couplings)
List price and a bill of materials	See list price and add parts to a BOM	How to Buy map keyed by five partner types	Banner Engineering (sensors)
Price behind a free account	See price and availability after creating a free account; quotes and Quick Order for business accounts	Find a Distributor	Kennametal (cutting tools)
Separate parts store	Shop replacement parts in a parts store on its own subdomain	New windows and doors go through Where to Buy, a certified contractor finder and a dealer portal	Andersen (windows and doors)
Browse only	Browse products	Dealer locator by product line, with "Call for Stock" on every listing	Simpson Strong-Tie (connectors and fasteners)

How six channel-led manufacturers split orders between the web store and the channel, checked logged out on Oct. 26, 2026. None of the six shows distributor stock on its locator. Source: Our review, Oct. 26, 2026, of carrlane.com/customer-resources/how-to-order; ruland.com/msp-8-f.html and /contact-us/distributors; bannerengineering.com product and where-to-buy pages; kennametal.com/us/en/home.html; parts.andersenwindows.com and andersenwindows.com; strongtie.com/dealerlocator.

Carr Lane routes the order to a distributor at checkout

Carr Lane’s How to Order page says buyers can get its components “both online and directly through authorized Carr Lane distributors.” A buyer adds parts to a Pricing and Availability form and at checkout can log in, register or check out as a guest. “To connect with a local distributor, customers can select from a list of nearby distributors during the checkout process.” The homepage also carries a separate Distributor Login. This is the cleanest hybrid we found. The manufacturer owns the catalog and the cart, and the buyer can still send the order through their distributor.

Ruland publishes the price and the point where a quote takes over

Ruland’s product pages show a full price ladder. On the MSP-8-F shaft collar we saw $8.54 each at quantity 1, $7.76 at 50, $6.47 at 100 and $5.82 at 250, with “Request Quote” at 500 and a lead time of “1 Week or Less.” Ruland also keeps a distributors page organized by region. Publishing where the quote begins tells everyone, including distributors, which orders the cart is meant for.

Banner shows list price and names the partner type

A Banner Engineering product page shows a list price (432 USD on the sensor we checked) and an “Add to BOM” button, and the account menu offers “Prepare a Quote / Create BOM.” Its How to Buy page maps partners by type: Regional Distributor, Factory Representative, Banner Office, Joint Venture and National Distributor. A buyer can see who covers them and what kind of partner it is before they call.

Kennametal gates price behind a free account

Kennametal’s homepage asks visitors to create a free account to “See product price and availability,” and says business accounts can “create and manage quotes and orders” and use Quick Order. “Find a Distributor” sits in the same quick-access list. The account becomes the place where price is shown, which keeps price off the public page.

Andersen separates parts from product

Andersen runs a parts store at its own subdomain, organized by window and door type, with a product ID lookup. The main site sends buyers of new windows and doors to “Where to Buy” and “Find a Certified Contractor,” and lists a Dealer Portal for professionals. Parts are the direct business, and product sales stay with the channel.

Simpson Strong-Tie keeps it all in the channel

Simpson Strong-Tie’s Dealer Locator lists nearby dealers, filters by product line, shows the product lines each dealer offers, and puts “Call for Stock” on every listing. It is honest about what it knows, but like the other five sites, the locator cannot tell a buyer who has the part on the shelf today.

Should the dealer locator show inventory?

It should when you can get the data. A buyer who lands on “Call for Stock” may have to call several counters to find one box of connectors, and a competitor’s product on the shelf at the first counter wins. If your top distributors send you inventory feeds for sell-through or replenishment, ask whether you can show an in-stock flag on the locator for your items. Even a nightly yes or no by branch beats a phone number. None of the six we checked does this today.

Where distributors will not share, publish what you can control. List the product lines each partner carries, as Simpson does, and the partner type, as Banner does, since both cut wasted calls.

What goes in a channel policy?

Keep it to one page and post it where distributors can find it. It should cover five things.

1. What you sell direct, by product family and order size, with the quantity or dollar point where you hand off to a distributor.
2. Pricing. Direct web prices sit at or above the distributor’s typical resale price, so the store never undercuts the channel.
3. Credit. Whether the distributor who covers the buyer’s territory gets credit, a referral fee or a commission on web orders from their area.
4. Lead routing. How quote requests, BOMs and locator clicks reach the right partner, and how fast.
5. Data. What you will share back with distributors, such as end-user names on parts orders, and what you will not.

Carr Lane’s checkout choice and Ruland’s quote threshold are both channel policy in practice. Writing it down is what lets a distributor sales manager defend the program inside their own company, in the same way a published co-op and market development funds program tells them what you will pay for.

In your industry

Industrial machinery and equipment. Parts for the installed base are the obvious direct business. Organize the parts store by machine model and serial range, since that is what the maintenance tech has in hand, and decide whether the selling dealer gets credit on parts for machines they sold. Our piece on aftermarket parts and service marketing covers how makers sell to that installed base.

Automation and industrial tech. Buyers configure and build bills of material. Banner’s BOM tool is the model. Let engineers build the BOM on your site, then route it to the distributor or integrator who covers them, with your list price visible so nobody is surprised.

Building products. Contractors and homeowners buy from dealers and lumberyards. Andersen’s split of parts from product fits this channel well. Spend effort on the locator: product lines carried, and stock if any dealer will share it.

What to do this quarter

1. Pull last year’s orders under your smallest distributor’s minimum. Their total sizes your low-conflict direct business.
2. List the parts and specials your top five distributors decline or pass through to you. Start the store with those.
3. Draft the one-page channel policy and review it with two distributor principals before launch.
4. Add partner type and product lines to your locator. Ask your top three distributors for a stock feed.
5. Decide how web orders from a distributor’s territory are credited, and put it in writing before the first order arrives.