Digital Plus Strategy
The Digital Plus framework is Justin King’s answer to the Amazon Business question: how does an independent distributor compete against a platform with infinite capital, two-hour shipping, and commoditized pricing?
The answer is not to try to out-Amazon Amazon. It’s to be digital plus something Amazon can’t be.
The Core Idea
Amazon Business is real, growing, and going after distribution hard. The launch of Amazon Business Prime confirmed it: they’re applying the same prime membership model they used to restructure retail to B2B distribution. They’re not making money on individual products — they’re making money on membership, which means they can commoditize pricing indefinitely.
But Amazon has a structural weakness that no amount of capital can fix: they can’t call anybody. No product specialists. No customer service that understands your products and how they’re applied. No one who knows your account, your job site, your trade preference.
“Digital Plus means you create this environment — find the product, help me do my job — plus: ‘Hey, do you have a question? I’m here right now on my website. I’m here taking questions for you.’”
— Justin King, Distribution Strategy Masterclass
What “Plus” Means
Digital Plus is not a product feature. It’s a strategy for differentiating your digital experience by layering your genuine competitive advantages on top of a functioning eCommerce capability.
The “plus” examples Justin uses:
- Online chat with real product specialists who understand application, not just SKU lookup
- Same-day phone or email support tied directly to your digital channel
- VMI (Vendor Managed Inventory) solutions built into the customer experience
- Installation services that Amazon cannot offer
- Local expertise, local relationships that a national platform can’t replicate
- Personalization at the account level — the customer-specific pricing, the preferred brand, the job site delivery structure that only you know
The operational insight: every one of these “plus” elements represents something you already do. The transformation is making them visible and accessible through the digital channel — not building something new.
Why Distributors Can Win
Justin is explicit that independent distributors have a real path to competing against nationals and even Amazon — but only if the model is “digital plus,” not “digital alone.”
The case:
- Your customers are already buying online from someone (68–70% of B2B customers surveyed are buying online from someone other than their primary distributor)
- That revenue leak is recoverable if you give them a good digital experience
- The Amazon advantage (selection, price, shipping) is real — but the Amazon disadvantage (no relationships, no expertise, no service) is also real
- A distributor that pairs a solid digital experience with their genuine service capability beats Amazon on the customer’s real job to be done, not just the commodity transaction
The risk: distributors that build digital without the “plus” — a generic eCommerce site with no service differentiation — are competing on Amazon’s terms and will lose.
The Amazon Business Context
Amazon Business Prime pricing at time of Justin’s masterclass: $500 for 10 users, $1,300 for 100 users. The model follows Costco — most profit comes from membership, not product margin. This allows them to push commodity product pricing down indefinitely without hurting their overall P&L.
The response options Justin identified for distributors:
- Build your own membership / loyalty program
- Offer year-end rebates on online purchases
- Create preferential shipping tiers for key customer segments
- Pilot with two accounts before scaling
The Spend Prioritization Question
When resources are limited, where does Digital Plus investment go first?
Justin’s answer from the masterclass:
- Platform + design — get a solid, customer-centric eCommerce experience live
- Product content — no online store with empty shelves; product data is what’s “on the shelf” in a digital branch
- ERP integration — this is the biggest single investment but non-negotiable for real-time pricing and inventory
- The “plus” layer — service differentiation, chat, call support, specialized content
Only after those four foundations are in place does investment in digital marketing (SEO, SEM, email, social) pay off. Spending on marketing to drive traffic to a poor experience is money wasted.