Kirby Risk, Graybar, Rexel, ElectricSmarts, WESCO and More Reading RoundUp

In last week’s Reading Roundup we shared some information from Graybar, WESCO, Sonepar and Codale.  To start this week we’re sharing more info on WESCO and Graybar and adding in some Kirby Risk, Rexel, ABB/T&B and ElectricSmarts.

Kirby Risk – every wonder what an Area Sales Manager does? Check out what Kirby Risk wants them to do … they are hiring!
Graybar

• Interested in data centers?  Graybar is promoting their datacenter capabilities on Aug 16.  From conversations with manufacturers, this is definitely a growth segment given the continued digitization of information..

• The St. Louis High Performance Building Initiative is holding an Energy Conservation Initiative seminar in August.  They are combining presentations on irrigation (for conducting water audits and water conservation), Retro-commissioning and the Energy Audit process (which focuses on the heating and cooling systems) and the role of Lighting in the Facility (a Graybar presentation).  What is interesting is the first line describing the seminar – “Budgets are just a few months away.  Are you prepared to increase your operational efficiency while reducing your bottom line costs?” Great concept for creating opportunities – and pulls in a broad audience with 3 complementary products (and guess where the session is being held … at Graybar).

• This was interesting.  The City of Pompano Beach specified a Schneider Electric variable speed frequency drive.  3 companies bid it (Graybar, K&M Electric and MSI Supply). Most, if not all, municipalities share bid results. Graybar won it with the low price, about $2000 low.  MSI was double the Graybar price.  So it begged some questions … Did Graybar use lower margins to win the business? Is Graybar’s pricing better than K&M’s? Why is MSI bidding the business for Schneider? And speed of delivery isn’t always what customers want. K&M committed to 5 days, Graybar was at 17 days. If you were the customer, what would you have done?

WESCO

Contractors have a history of liking car racing and many will remember when a number of industry manufacturers sponsored cars.  Now WESCO is sponsoring a car according to www.speedwaymedia.com.

They are sponsoring the #51 Chevrolet car that Ty Dillon drove on Saturday at the inaugural Indiana 250. Ty came in 3rd.  Congrats to WESCO.  (Could this be a cost-effective way for manufacturers to get back into racing – be it NASCAR or the Nationwide Series?)

Rexel

Rexel reported their Q2 and 1st half results which, worldwide, are on track for their financial objectives.  Of interest to us is their US performance.  According to the report, Q2 was up 3.3%. In North America (hence Canada & US), Rexel was up 5.3%, which was an improvement over Q1 which was 4.9%. This tells us that Canada is doing well.  The U.S., while maybe meeting Rexel’s expectations, appears to lag the industry of about 6%. While industrial and lighting is supporting Rexel’s growth, the challenge is presumably that the company is still more contractor / construction-oriented.  We continue to hear that many distributors consider Rexel their best growth strategy. For more information on Rexel’s first half performance, click here.

ABB  / T&B – looking for some info on their Q2 and low voltage performance. Here’s some comments. Overall, their corporate outlook differs from Eaton, but it could be due to geographic mix.

ElectricSmarts

Wondering what ElectricSmarts, a search and information tool that distributors can integrate into their websites (and have branded with their graphics) for free, and it’s NetPricer division are up to? Check out the NetPricer blog and their recent travels to Gexpro, Mayer, Stuart Irby (a Sonepar company) and more. NetPricer competes with Trade Service’s Supplier xChange service.  ElectricSmarts has also launched a very very cost-effective e-newsletter service for distributors (where the distributor inserts the manufacturers that they want) and reportedly is working on an initiative with IDEA that will reach contractors. A company that is looking to expand it’s reach in the channel.

Comments on any of the above?