Insights Into Why E-Commerce Matters Now

Moving swiftly from nice-to-have to a must-have for independent retailers, an e-commerce site provides an additional channel to engage with customers and a path to other revenue streams. In the U.S. Census Bureau Quarterly Retail E Commerce Sales Report from the fourth quarter of 2025, retail e-commerce sales, adjusted for seasonal variation, increased 1.7% from Q3 2025 and e-commerce sales in the fourth quarter of 2025 accounted for 16.6% of total sales. Total e-commerce sales for 2025 increased 5.4% from 2024, and those e-commerce sales accounted for 16.4% of total sales.

The stats speak loudly—e-commerce isn’t going anywhere and will only continue to grow. Forrester’s U.S. Retail E-Commerce Forecast, 2025 To 2030, predicts that U.S. e-commerce sales will hit $1.8 trillion by 2030 and will account for 29% of total retail sales. Independent retailers who want to continue competing in the future need to have e-commerce on their radar now.

Do it Best director of e-commerce Skiler Lehman, Orgill director of technology services Grant Morrow and Orgill vice president of Orgill services share insights into why e-commerce will be crucial to compete in the market moving forward.

Hardware Retailing (HR): How have consumer habits impacted e-commerce?
Skiler Lehman (SL): Consumer expectations drive e-commerce. Shoppers want fast, convenient access to information before they ever contact or visit a store to find stock information, explore brands and evaluate product offerings. Every business needs a strategy to continue evolving to meet those expectations: e-commerce is the standard, even for the local hardware store.

This presents a unique opportunity for retailers—leaning into service. We know that DIY customers who prioritize independent home improvement businesses want to spend their money in their community, and they want the personalized service of being helped by the owner and knowledgeable staff. These consumers are aware they can find the product on any e-commerce site, but they’re looking for a different experience.

The end customer expects e-commerce and they want service—they are not mutually exclusive.

Independent dealers leveraging e-commerce invite their community to shop with them, while providing both the convenience they expect and the service they want.

HR: Why is it important for independent retailers to offer e-commerce?
SL: Independent retailers must be visible where customers are making decisions, and today, much of that happens online. Shoppers are researching products, comparing prices, checking availability and deciding where to buy before they ever walk into a store.

That makes e-commerce critical for independent retailers. It gives them the opportunity to show up earlier in the customer journey, promote what they have available locally and make it easier for shoppers to choose them over a competitor. Without a strong online presence, a retailer may never get the opportunity to earn the sale.

Dealers might not even realize they’ve lost the sale, because the customer never walked in. E-commerce is about capturing consumer consideration—that moment when a DIYer is looking to purchase and searching for the best place to complete their projects.

Do it Best’s e-commerce offering helps level the playing field against big-box retailers by giving independents access to enterprise-level capabilities that customers now expect, including store inventory, pricing, pickup options, Google Shopping visibility and online promotions. When e-commerce works alongside the in-store experience, it helps drive traffic, increase sales and keep independent retailers competitive.

Grant Morrow (GM): In today’s retail environment, it’s imperative for any business to have an e-commerce program. Having e-commerce isn’t just about selling products, it is also about creating a foundation for customers or potential customers to find you. I’d encourage you to think about your own habits when you need a product or are looking for a solution to a project and you might not know where to go to find it. I would bet your first action is to pull out your phone and start researching. You’re likely going to use something like Google or an AI program to help you in that search. Most of the time you also don’t start that search with a retailer, you start with the product you are looking for or the project itself. All that search engine technology needs a foundation to pull from to evaluate your offering. As a retailer, if you don’t have e-commerce, you don’t have a foundation for those engines to draw from. They will simply identify the other businesses that have e-commerce and product listings. Without your own e-commerce platform, you’re completely excluding yourself from that purchase consideration funnel, which would be very dangerous in this day and age.

HR: For retailers who have no e-commerce programs currently, where do you suggest they start?
SL: Retailers should avoid assuming they need a large, expensive custom website to get started. We have seen businesses invest significant dollars into custom development and still end up with a solution that does not meet their needs. Starting with the right program or platform can help them move faster, reduce cost and create a better customer experience from the beginning. 

Next, understand your options, and your wholesale or distributor partner should be able to quickly and easily do that. For example, retailers interested in our e-commerce platform simply connect with their Do it Best or True Value marketing specialist to get online quickly with minimal fees. Our philosophy is that every dealer should have an affordable, high-quality way to connect with customers, and our platform, program and recommendations are rooted in that.

E-commerce should be easy for the dealer to implement and maintain; my recommendation is to lean into your wholesale and retail partners to start reaping the benefits of e-commerce right away.

Jim Rivas (JR): I know it can be a bit overwhelming, so we would recommend a methodical approach. I’d suggest prioritizing operational execution from the outset. The most important thing is that you have your internal structures in good order—your inventory, your pricing, etc. Because, once you reveal your inventory and pricing online through an e-commerce platform, any lack of data integrity becomes immediately visible and can lead to significant complications upon launch. So having your data as clean as possible and in order is really the first step. This is good retailing in any case but it is really fundamental to having a well-run e-commerce launch. That being said, an e-commerce presence is no longer optional.. In today’s landscape, the digital space is how the entire world discovers your business; quite frankly, having an e-commerce presence is simply the price of admission for a retailer at this stage.

HR: What are your three top best practices for making e-commerce effective and impactful?
SL: First, have real-time inventory and pricing on your website. Customers expect to know what you carry, what it costs and how they can get it before they make a trip to the store. Just as important, retail employees need to support online orders with the same urgency and service they give customers in-store, including timely fulfillment and communication.

Second, retailers need to fully lean into e-commerce as part of their overall sales and marketing strategy. Just like you plan for upcoming in-store sales, seasonal events or promotions, you should also be thinking about what marketing activities can drive customers to your store online. E-commerce is most effective when it is not treated as a separate channel, but as an extension of the store experience.

Finally, retailers should build and manage their online presence. Customers are searching locally, and Google prioritizes results with local intent. That means business listings, social media pages, online reputation and overall site content all play an important role in both SEO and now AEO. The easier it is for customers to find your store and see what you offer, the more effective and impactful your e-commerce presence will be.

GM: Think about the big boxes and how many billions they’ve put into e-commerce, they still only hit about 15% of sales that are via digital channels, so you should control everyone’s ambition and their expectations about what success might look like. First and foremost, e-commerce is a way for your business to be found. It is how people decide if you’re worth the trip. Consider it as almost being like the new front door of your business. Before people get up from their chairs and head into your store to buy something, they are using your site to decide if it’s worth the trip. The first top best practice is getting buy-in from everyone in the organization that launching and maintaining an e-commerce platform is a commitment to your customers and must be executed in a timely fashion and with operational discipline. Second, inventory and POS data management is critical. Like Jim said, your data should be as clean as possible and you should have the disciplines in place to maintain that data. Things like on-hand quantities need to be correct and you should expose them online; your POS files should be cleaned up so you know what products you want to put online. Third, it’s all about marketing. While search engines will help people find your site, don’t expect much volume if you don’t do any marketing. You should tie all your marketing together with loyalty, email, digital ads and traditional print and in-store signage, to drive home to your community that you have an online presence.

HR: How does e-commerce help retailers engage with all generations?
SL: E-commerce is not just for younger generations anymore. Smartphones, computers, and online shopping are part of everyday life for nearly every age group.

Customers of all generations are using digital tools to research products, compare prices, check availability, read reviews, and decide where to shop. Some may complete the purchase online, while others may use the website to plan their trip before coming into the store. Either way, ecommerce helps retailers meet customers how they prefer to shop.

For independent retailers, this means ecommerce is not about replacing the in-store experience. It is about supporting it. By offering accurate product information, local inventory, pricing, pickup options, and a convenient online experience, retailers can better engage customers across every generation and make it easier for them to choose their store.

HR: How does Orgill support retailers in e-commerce?
GM: We have e-commerce programs and partners. These partners offer different areas of speciality in many cases. For example, some are better suited to provide solutions to pro-focused lumberyards or home centers that are often dealing with a higher and more diverse SKU count. Other partners and platforms that cater more to the needs of a farm and ranch retailer or a more traditional hardware operation. We don’t just offer a once-size-fits-all solution. 

We consult with dealers to figure out which solution is best for them, whether it’s an Orgill program, or a partner. No matter which e-commerce platform our customer may choose to use, we believe quality, accurate product data is fundamental to being able to execute e-commerce effectively. 

This is the primary reason why Orgill has made such a large commitment to pursuing data for everything our dealers sell, well beyond what Orgill just distributes from our warehouses. We serve probably the most diverse group of retailers in the industry, so we have to have a very broad range of products and product data available. The reality is, this often goes beyond our stocking items. We are committed to including this non-Orgill product because we want dealers to be successful with e-commerce and represent their entire business online. All of this product information, Orgill stocking items and non-stocking items makes up what we call our “Industry PIM,” and we’ve been executing and enhancing this program for more than eight years. We have a wide range of dealers from across the industry participating in it with us, helping us refine it, add to it and make it better. The result is that we now have more than 1.5 million items in this Industry PIM, which is well beyond what Orgill stocks in our distribution centers. Because quality data is so important, we think this robust database serves as a very strong foundation for any e-commerce program.