Colleen Ehrhardt has joined DDS (Distributor Data Solutions) as director of global sales, where she will spearhead efforts to build relationships with DDS' current and prospective customers in the wholesale distribution industry.

 

DDS is excited to welcome Ehrhardt to its business development team, recognizing her wealth of experience and relationships within the B2B e-commerce space. Since its inception in 2014, DDS has quickly become a leading provider of e-commerce-ready product content to the electrical and related construction and industrial distribution markets.

 

Prior to joining DDS, Ehrhardt was with Snap36, the market leader for interactive 360-degree photography, for nearly ten years, where she served as director of global strategic accounts most recently, and director of sales prior to that. Ehrhardt played a key role in Snap36's swift growth over the past decade, helping revolutionize the online interactive customer experience for manufacturers, distributors and retailers across multiple verticals. She was integral in launching the company's offerings within the electrical industry for B2B e-commerce.

 

"As a veteran of the B2B e-commerce industry, Colleen is especially familiar with the impact that enriched product content—like Snap36's 360-degree and three-dimensional product views—can have on the customer's buying journey," said DDS President Matt Christensen. "We are thrilled to bring her on board to help us manage the volume of manufacturers and distributors we are talking to about our solutions."

 

Starting in the electrical industry, DDS has gained significant traction helping both suppliers and wholesalers with the exchange and management of e-commerce product content. In short, DDS delivers comprehensive and current product content, sourced directly from manufacturers but with intelligent, programmatic enhancements for optimal usability, to power distributors' e-commerce websites.

 

"DDS has made an impressive mark on the distribution industry in a very short time," said Ehrhardt. "They are providing a very unique data-as-a-service model powered by a suite of sophisticated proprietary solutions to help manufacturers simplify the process of syndicating their product content to their distribution partners, which is one of the greatest challenges facing these companies—and the industry at large—right now." 

 

Ehrhardt will be based out of Chicago, giving Salt Lake City-based DDS a presence farther east in the United States, and she will be instrumental in helping DDS expand and serve customers globally. In addition to its growing presence in North America, DDS is already working with several manufacturers and distributors in Europe through their involvement with IMELCO, the largest marketing group of independent electrical wholesalers in the world.

 

DDS currently works with more than 300 manufacturers (representing over 1,800 brands) serving the electrical, lighting, solar, plumbing, HVAC, tool, industrial supply and automation markets. Their distributor customers include 14 of the Top 20electrical distributors in the United States (as ranked by EW Magazine), as well as several big-name retail and e-commerce outlets.