The tech-enabled Distributor: Owning the customer supply chain journey

Distributors sit at the centre of a complex web of logistics providers. Forwarders, transport companies, 3PLs, customs brokers are all working behind the scenes to get goods to customers. But from the customer’s perspective, none of that should matter. They’re buying from you.

And that’s where many distributors fall short.

Despite best efforts, the customer experience often becomes fragmented. One order might mean navigating three different tracking systems, calling your customer service team for an update, and hoping their invoice arrives correctly formatted from one of your providers’ systems. It’s frustrating, disjointed, and most importantly, it doesn’t feel like your brand.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

The customer experience gap in B2B logistics

In the B2B world, digital expectations are rising. A recent McKinsey study found that 70% of B2B buyers expect the same level of customer experience as B2C customers, including self-service tools and real-time visibility. At the same time, 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience (PwC).

Yet for many distributors, the tools just haven’t kept up. Each logistics partner brings their own system, portal or process and there’s no easy way to tie them all together. Your customer service team becomes the human middleware, answering “Where’s my order?” emails all day long, while customers juggle login details across different systems.

And with so many distributors outsourcing their logistics to multiple 3PLs and freight partners, fragmentation is the rule, not the exception. In fact, 75% of Australian companies already use third-party logistics services, and many mid-sized importers rely on a mix of global freight forwarders, regional warehouses, and last-mile carriers.

That complexity comes at a cost: 66% of Australian supply chain leaders say they’re working with siloed or incomplete data. Without a unified view of the supply chain, it’s hard to offer a consistent, reliable experience, let alone delight your customers.

One portal, all your partners

This is where a connected logistics experience becomes a competitive advantage.

With a solution like the Origin Portal, distributors can present one consistent interface to their customers, no matter how many providers sit behind the scenes. Whether it's an international import order or a local transport job, your customer sees it all in one place.

With it, you can pull back the curtain and streamline the chaos into a single, branded experience, all powered by integrations, but owned by you.

What good looks like

Here’s what leading distributors are starting to do:

Create tailored customer views. Give each customer or channel a customised experience from live tracking and order creation to invoice downloads, all with your branding, not a third-party platform’s.
Deliver self-service at scale. Let your customers help themselves. They can place repeat orders, check ETA’s, access documents, and manage their own account without sending a single email.
Maintain consistency, even through change. When you switch providers or scale operations, your customer interface doesn’t have to change. The integration layer adapts while the customer experience remains seamless.

Why this matters more than ever

With growing competition and tightening margins, your customer experience is one of the few levers you can fully control. If your logistics systems look like everyone else’s (slow, disjointed, outdated), your brand becomes interchangeable. But when you deliver a smarter, more seamless digital experience, you become the benchmark.

It’s not just about keeping up with expectations. It’s about setting them.

Ready to connect the dots?

Origin’s Portal is built specifically for complex logistics environments. Deep integration capabilities. Configurable views. Full control over your brand experience. All in one place.

Because your customers aren’t buying freight. They’re buying from you.