Last week’s NAED SouthCentral Regional Conference in Palm Springs was, according to a number of people a “subdued, lightly attended conference.”
A number of people commented that there were not many distributor personnel attending and that while there were more manufacturers, there always are, that manufacturers were bring less people. Perhaps this is a sign of the economy (afterall the room rate was $285/night!) and that companies are cutting back or that many distributors and manufacturers have recently met (or will be) given the planning season and the upcoming IMARK Showcase and EDN/Equity Annual Meeting.
A number of interesting issues surfaced during the meeting (and are noted in no particular order):
- The overall economic “feel” was subdued and “ambivalent”. Some manufacturers reported good January’s but without an understanding of why; the resi market was “bad in January and worse in February”; light commercial was weak; larger project market was okay; industrial was also okay.
- Regarding the above attendance, an analysis of the registration list showed 71 unique distributor companies were registered. We recognized 34% as IMARK distributors, 37% as A-D distributors, 9% related to Sonepar and another 11% being other national entities, leaving only about 7 distributors who were not part of one of the “national organizations” (we didn’t recognize names and some may be part of the “nationals”). This is 91% of the distributor company attendees. And considering all three regionals, our guess is that about 40% of NAED’s members are attending one of the regionals. At the same time, about 117 manufacturers were represented in Palm Springs.
- NAED released the final reports from the Channel Advantage Partnership projects on the residential market and on product liability. Both should be read by all, especially the product liability report (given the challenges in the resi market).
- Spoke to a couple of electrical manufacturers who inquired about “green”, but as it relates to how active distributors are in this area. Both are currently undergoing green initiatives in their plants … from conducting energy audits and retrofitting their lamps/fixtures to trying to reduce their landfill footprint. One manufacturer was approached by WESCO and a couple of ESCOs (energy service companies), the other had to ask a contractor friend. Neither was approached by independent distributors.
- We received good interest from distributors and manufacturers regarding our end-user Green Survey, which has been recently deployed. A number of distributors are also sending it to their customers and will be receiving a custom analysis. For more information contact either David or Allen.
- A couple of wire companies we spoke with had good January’s, from a pound viewpoint, as wire pricing was low, but don’t expect much for this month given the high pricing and China’s re-entry into the market. Word is that demand is slow, margins are tightening (due to competitive pressures), and that they expect pricing to remain “high” for the foreseeable future due to China and developing growth coming from India.
- A couple of people commented on the hotel room rate and why the group perceptually is committed to Marriott Hotels (someone commented “Who gets the points for booking the meeting here?” Perhaps the question is “What should be the maximum hotel rate that distributors and manufacturers want to pay (recognizing that NAED has to book hotels 3 years in advance)?”
- Rumors were strong that Rexel is developing a private label relationship with a leading manufacturer of nonmetallic electrical conduit, fittings, accessories, and communications duct and residential switch and outlet boxes. Reportedly the relationship is focued on the conduit as well as 1/2″ to 2″ fittings. We heard “there is no price advantage” to “we estimate a 20-25% price advantage”. Don’t know which is real, but, why PL if no advantage? According to one distributor, “the only benefit of private labeling, especially for name brand manufacturers, is an overall lowering of price. If private labeling pricing from name brand manufacturers is significantly lower, and becomes known, then others will demand the lower price also.” Sounds like there is profit transference going on and hopefully distributors can differentiate in their ERP systems between acquisition cost and into-stock cost.
Overall a “quiet” meeting. Green continues to be an issue as does private labeling / product commoditization and new product introduction.
8 Comments
The $285 is just the entry fee. With taxes, resort fee, etc, the price is $332. And God forbid if you valet parked, an additional $24/day. You would at least think coffee would be free.
You ever wonder why parking, the internet, cocktails, and breakfast are free at Hilton Garden’s, Residence Inn’s, etc, and the service is better. You pay a real premium for a ballroom and lobby.
Same hotel, different group – INFOR Users Group – in 2 weeks has a $199/night rate. $100/night more expensive to attend NAED? Where’s that money go? To NAED?
What I hear and just came to the conclusion is that NAED will not have a true Past Chairman after Waterman has served.
It is unfortunate that Tom Naber will have a free run of the place to run more people off.
Tom has to belittle the IDEA employees and then blame it on the teleprompter…he runs the show, but can’t blame himself.
Let’s see if I remember this correctly: Tom N and his gang embarssed the distributors by running Rioux off, then threw a wrench into the workings of IDEA…now he be-littles IDEA employees publically? Is there no end to this crap?
Same old BS.
Who gets all the points and side perks?
I would expect that NAED would make something on the rooms to offset the cost of some of the meeting rooms.
The problem is that NAED education is missing the mark. They want to sell NAED services and for us there is no value. We see better value from outside vendors.
We are puzzled about the number of NAED personal they bring to the meetings. Maybe Tom can get off his butt and do some of the work himself and leave a few people back in St. Louis. It cost money to bring then to these events.
It has always struck a nerve that the Chairmanship has been passed around amoung the good ole boys. Now I hear that there will be no true “past chair” after Waterman serves.
This leads me to the whole issue of value for a distributor at these NAED meetings. The sheer cost to attend these high profile hotels is expensive. While we are writting it off, it cuts into our bottom line and I’m not sure it is worth it. We’ve decreased the number of people attending from 12 to 4 and I think we’ll cut that in half this next go around.
A distributor in the SouthEast
While room cost are real….the same place or same type is a pain.
I stopped bringing my wife…nothing new for her to buy.
NAED training is way off the mark. For NAED people to stand up in front of people and say they are going to set the “standard” for certification and training….who are they kidding. I certainly would not subject my people to training by people who are not in the business. NAED is in the business of being in business to extract fees from manufacturers and pawn off some of thir people like bethany as experts…..what a joke and really insulting to people that truely make a living in the distribution business.
We are not fooled by the child like voice that Tom uses.
Member distributors really need to dump Tom and get someone in that is from the distributor community or a real professional to run NAED.
We need to take back control of our association. Bring some business sense back to NAED.
You fellas should post a fresh topic on NAED…especially Tom Naber.
He is back to his old ways with his whisper campaigns. Tom doesn’t seem to understand that he serves the distributor members first.
For what ever the reason Tom wants to control the whole industry.
If as a manufacturer we want to advertise in Electrical Wholesaling Magazine, that is our business…Tom does not have a say. But he will damm sure tell you he determines who advertise where.
Dick, you need to find a big choke chain and put it on Tom. Then you need to need to put chain on the clothesline at NAED corporate headquarters. We don’t need Tom telling us where we can advertise.
Did a search on NAED education and landed here among other spots. Looks like Mr. Naber has let loose of his “expert” Bethany if she had become a liability. No appearances, no articles, no meetings. Or, she might have become disillusioned after failing to land the IDEA presidency? What’s the scoop, fellas? Anybody know?
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