Why Velocity Matters in B2B Distribution
Speed drives competitive advantage as your customers expect faster response, clear communication, and consistent delivery.
Velocity has become one of the most important competitive advantages in distribution. Customers expect availability, fast response, accurate ETAs, and clear communication. Distributors that move slowly fall behind in a market where expectations continue to rise.
Industry research reinforces this.
- The National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW) reports that slow quote turnaround and inconsistent fulfillment are the top drivers of lost business in the B2B distribution sector.
- McKinsey’s industrial distribution insights show that companies with faster order processing and real-time inventory visibility outperform peers on margin, customer retention, and fill rate consistency.
- Gartner’s supply chain research highlights that velocity in B2B fulfillment is increasingly tied to revenue growth, as customers migrate toward distributors who deliver reliably and communicate clearly.
Velocity impacts customer experience, operations, and profitability in equal measure.
The Structural Breakpoints That Slow Distributors Down
Fragmented systems and manual handoffs create delays that customers feel across every order.
B2B distributors operate in environments where thousands of products, suppliers, and customers converge. Delays rarely come from a single system or team; they come from how information moves across the organization.
- Customer service teams wait on inventory clarification.
- Sales waits on pricing or availability updates.
- Warehouses wait on final picks or change notifications.
- Procurement waits on supplier lead times or confirmations.
- Customers wait for updates that are stuck behind manual processes.
These delays add friction to every stage of the order lifecycle.
Industry evidence supports this.
According to Modern Distribution Management (MDM), more than half of operational delays in distribution originate from fragmented systems, manual steps, or inconsistent handoffs.
- Deloitte’s industrial distribution outlook notes that many distributors still rely on legacy ERPs and standalone tools that make real-time visibility difficult.
- Supply Chain Dive regularly highlights how outdated workflows in distribution centers lead to increased carrying costs, mispicks, and customer service escalations.
These delays ultimately reduce the organization’s CXV Score™ and make it harder to deliver a predictable customer experience.
What High-Velocity Distributors Do Differently
Top performers achieve faster operations through integrated systems and predictable workflows, not harder work.
Distributors with high CXV Scores™ build operating environments where information moves quickly, clearly, and consistently. Inventory updates happen in real time across branches and facilities. Quotes and orders flow through predictable paths. Customer requests get routed immediately. Warehouse teams know exactly what needs to happen and when. And procurement has clean visibility into demand signals.
High-velocity distributors reduce manual work, simplify communication, and enable their teams with reliable workflows.
- According to Bain’s distribution performance studies, leading distributors outperform peers not through heroic effort but through tighter operational coordination and faster decision-making.
- Gartner’s research shows that distributors with integrated planning, routing, and order management systems significantly outperform competitors on fulfillment performance and customer responsiveness.
These companies make velocity a cultural and operational priority — and customers notice.
How Integratz Helps B2B Distributors Increase Their CXV Score™
We identify your biggest bottlenecks and deliver measurable velocity improvements within 90 days.
Integratz works with B2B distribution organizations to identify operational friction across order flow, warehouse execution, procurement, and customer service. The CXV Score™ creates a measurable baseline of current performance and highlights exactly where delays occur.
During the CXV Diagnosis, we examine order processing, pricing and quoting, inventory updates, warehouse workflows, supplier communication, returns, and customer service routing. This reveals how delays accumulate and which workflows create the most friction.
The Velocity Lift focuses on one high-impact bottleneck.
Examples include:
- Accelerating customer service routing
- Improving pick-pack-ship workflows
- Removing manual order entry
- Modernizing procurement communication
- Streamlining branch-to-DC coordination.
These improvements often reduce cycle times quickly and improve customer experience immediately.
The CXV Katalyst program strengthens long-term operational velocity by integrating workflows, reducing manual effort, improving system communication, and aligning teams around predictable, fast-moving processes.
Most distributors see measurable CXV Score™ improvement within the first 90 days.
Where CXV Gains Happen Fastest in B2B Distribution
Quick wins come from fixing order flow, inventory visibility, warehouse coordination, and customer service routing.
Distributors typically see the strongest velocity improvements in:
- Order entry and order management flow
- Inventory visibility across branches and warehouses
- Picking accuracy and warehouse task coordination
- Supplier communication and procurement cycles
- Pricing and quoting workflows
- Customer service routing and response
- Returns processing and credit issuance
- Cross-functional messaging and handoffs
These improvements reduce delays that customers feel most, and raise CXV Scores™ quickly.
Your Next Step
Every distributor competes on velocity, whether they realize it or not.
The CXV Score™ gives leaders a measurable understanding of their operational speed today and highlights exactly where improvements will have the greatest customer and financial impact.
