3M’s technology isn’t always visible, but its impact on day-to-day life is undeniable. The company’s 96,000 employees are dedicated to science and exploration — driving to understand customer needs and, creating products that make products lighter, more durable, and striving to solve the world’s current challenges — while also preparing for the future.
3M works with a vision to “strengthen innovation capabilities and accelerate transformation.” To do this, the company sought to focus on engaging more with product end users and distributor partners.
In a 2022 Accenture report, David Crist, SVP & CMO at 3M´s Safety and Industrial Business Group (SIBG), stated, “Tying data and technology into everything we do at 3M is the key cornerstone of how we´re repositioning marketing and sales. We’re becoming more data-oriented, and our portfolios are prioritized based on growth profiles. We focus on those business activities that have the greatest share, penetration, and growth opportunity, along with new product development, because that’s core to 3M.”
Because downstream sales drive 3M’s growth needs, visibility into the distributors and end-customer sales data became imperative to help create insights-led marketing programs, measure on-demand generation, and incentivize channel partners. The company struggled to identify end customers, and collaboration with their distributors was not always optimal.
Because several partners lacked the resources and technical capabilities to provide POS data, 3M also needed a solution to lower barriers to reporting compliance. Additionally, 3M lacked dedicated partner change management resources for outreach and onboarding. Because 3M’s multi-channel approach (direct sales, distributors, retail, e-commerce) added complexity. Coordinating efforts, maintaining consistent messaging, and optimizing each channel demanded careful planning. Measuring channel effectiveness can be complex. 3M needed reliable metrics to evaluate partner performance, identify bottlenecks, and allocate resources effectively.
The company partnered with e2open to create a systemic approach that would address both processes and technology. The end goal: help 3M shift from a mindset of simply selling a product—to selling an experience and service. Step one included strategy and scoping to establish priority use cases, frequency, data requirements, and coverage targets. The end-state would allow channel managers to leverage a single data set for multiple downstream uses for every transaction.
Channel partner management best practices and e2open’s technology would help engage with selected channel partners to change data relationships (how data is shared and why) and improve customer experience. The platform and processes would also standardize data collection, conditioning, and management processes globally to improve data delivery speed. With standard data, 3M would then be able to consume point of sale (POS) data and produce various dashboards based on role and channel activities, including:
analytics to help management understand POS growth trends and diagnostics across divisions, channels, accounts, and geographies. 3M can also compare POS to direct sales for insights on inventory changes – enabling supply chain planning capabilities.
dashboards that let field sales leaders gain insight into growing/declining customers, purchase history, product affinities, and missed purchase alerts. 3M could then use the information to influence daily sales activities and annual planning.
data enables account managers to develop joint business planning playbooks. Analytics packets with details and trends on customers, markets, and products, deep dive POS dashboards, are regularly used by account managers, as well as product recommendations and missed purchase alerts for end-user customers.
reports for Channel marketers help 3M understand growth trends by market segment, leveraging POS and Dun & Bradstreet data. They can then plan a marketing strategy by understanding market penetration, potential, and current customer and product profiles.
3M’s channel management investments have increased market penetration, enhanced customer satisfaction, optimized inventory, improved sales, cost reduction, engaged channel partners, consistent branding, valuable market insights, and efficient supply chain operations. With the help of e2open, 3M made notable improvements across various areas due to its improved channel management strategies, including:
By effectively managing its distribution channels, 3M expanded its market reach. Their products are now available in more locations, increasing visibility and customer access.
Efficient channel management ensures timely product delivery, accurate information, and responsive customer service. As a result, 3M’s customers experience better satisfaction.
Incentives, training, and collaborative efforts now actively engage 3M’s channel partners. This partnership results in better market representation of 3M’s products.
3M’s channel management practices help maintain optimal inventory levels. This minimizes excess stock and reduces carrying costs while ensuring products are available when needed.
A well-aligned, ongoing channel strategy improved performance channel sales volumes and revenue.
3M’s channel management provides valuable insights into market trends, customer preferences, and competitor activities. These insights now inform strategic decisions.
awareness of channel partner sales
sales performance
ad hoc and manual operations
channel partner engagement and reporting
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