In this episode of U.S. Manufacturing Today (powered by Veryable) host Matt Horine interviews Ethan Giffin, founder/CEO of The B2B e-commerce agency and author of Closing the Digital Revenue Gap, about revenue leakage and added costs caused by manual B2B ordering. Giffin explains that most buyers prefer self-service and B2C-like experiences, and argues digital commerce should be treated as a true revenue channel targeting 10–15% of revenue, not a “website project.” They discuss what a multimillion-dollar leak looks like (high order-processing costs, errors, lost customers, and requirements like punch-outs), why projects stall (misalignment across sales/marketing/ops/finance/IT, catalog and data issues, ERP access), and a three-year adoption path. They cover sales-team fears and incentives, how to pilot and activate portals, practical AI uses (catalog building) versus hype, and where to get Giffin’s book and consultation.

Timestamps 

00:00 Show Intro and Guest

03:09 Ethan’s Commerce Journey

04:49 Middle Market Reality Check

07:07 Defining the Revenue Gap

09:14 Where Money Leaks

12:55 Top Blind Spots

14:52 Why Digital Projects Stall

20:58 Diagnostics and 3 Year Plan

23:13 Sales Team Fears

25:27 Incentives and Adoption Wins

27:32 Success Story Shift

28:33 Early Portal Wins

29:23 Build It They Wont Come

31:22 Pilot Then Activate

33:39 AI Practical Vs Hype

35:10 Crawl Walk Run Maturity

37:15 Agents Relationships And ROI

40:46 Reindustrialization Digital Edge

43:13 Friction Kills Buying

47:21 30 Day Action Plan

48:34 DJ Lessons In Change

51:49 Book And Wrap Up

Links 

The B2B eCommerece Agency (https://b2becommerceagency.com/)

Ethan on linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethangiffin/)

B2B on Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/company/b2becommerceagency/)

Closing the Digital Revenue Gap (https://b2becommerceagency.com/free-consultation/)

Revitalizing US Manufacturing⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (https://www.veryableops.com/)

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