Closing the Digital Revenue Gap: B2B E‑Commerce That Actually Gets Used

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 Guest03:09 Ethan’s Commerce Journey04:49 Middle Market Reality Check07:07 Defining the Revenue Gap09:14 Where Money Leaks12:55 Top Blind Spots14:52 Why Digital Projects Stall20:58 Diagnostics and 3 Year Plan23:13 Sales Team Fears25:27 Incentives and Adoption Wins27:32 Success Story Shift28:33 Early Portal Wins29:23 Build It They Wont Come31:22 Pilot Then Activate33:39 AI Practical Vs Hype35:10 Crawl Walk Run Maturity37:15 Agents Relationships And ROI40:46 Reindustrialization Digital Edge43:13 Friction Kills Buying47:21 30 Day Action Plan48:34 DJ Lessons In Change51:49 Book And Wrap UpLinks 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/)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sign Up on the Veryable Platform  (https://company.veryableops.com/create-profile)