Author

David Gordon

Gordon is president of Channel Marketing Group. Channel Marketing Group works with manufacturers, distributors, manufacturer reps and technology companies in the electrical industry to help companies accelerate their performance through strategy development, marketing creativity and market research. CMG generates ideas that generate results.


Channel Strategies  / Distributors  / eBusiness  / eMarketing  / Growth Strategies  / Industry Consolidation  / Industry News  / Manufacturers  / Marketing  / More Insights  / Sales Channel
Alibaba – Ringing the Bell to Sell or Starting the Year of eCommerce for Distributors?
David Gordon Posted On September 18, 2014


As I sit writing this post on the eve of one of the largest IPOs ever, Alibaba, I’ve been debating if this post should be about the beginning of the end of distribution to many market segments and hence the […]


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Channel Strategies  / Customer Segments  / Distributors  / eBusiness  / Growth Strategies  / Industry News  / Lighting  / Lighting2  / Manufacturers  / Marketing  / More Insights  / Training
2015 Planning, Part 2 – Resi, Data Centers, Trends & Questions
David Gordon Posted On September 15, 2014


Welcome to another installment of “Time to Plan” where we’re sharing industry indicators and potential planning questions. Indicators The housing market is showing signs of continued growth, albeit this is marketplace specific.  It appears that the higher end of the […]


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Branding  / Customer Segments  / Distributors  / Growth Strategies  / Lighting  / Lighting2  / Manufacturers  / Marketing  / More Insights  / Supplier / Products
LEDs Become Mainstream; Graybar & Grainger Market
David Gordon Posted On September 11, 2014


LEDs, as distributors know, is becoming more and more mainstream.  They dominate new projects and are increasingly being requested for retrofits. The energy savings are significant along with other cost savings (i.e. maintenance, HVAC costs, etc). But you especially know something […]


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Channel Strategies  / Contractors  / Customer Segments  / Distributors  / Growth Strategies  / Industrial Market  / Industry News  / Manufacturers  / Marketing  / More Insights  / Research Reports
2015 Planning – Market Indicators & Planning Questions, Part 1
David Gordon Posted On September 8, 2014


This month begins meeting season.  National chains are holding their annual meetings (click here to see the agenda and sponsors for CES’ meeting), marketing groups are holding registration for their meetings and last week we received the invite for the […]


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Customer Service  / Distributors  / eBusiness  / More Insights  / Profitability  / Research Reports  / Technology
Planning for Security
David Gordon Posted On September 3, 2014


Before and over the Labor Day weekend there were several press releases and articles that rolled in regarding purchases and problems in business software. INFOR completes Saleslogix purchase: We’ve thought for a while that as some ERP software packages have attempted […]


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Channel Strategies  / Distributors  / Growth Strategies  / Industry Consolidation  / Industry News  / Lighting  / Lighting2  / Manufacturers  / More Insights  / Sales Channel  / Supplier / Products
The Crowded and Changing World of Lighting
David Gordon Posted On September 1, 2014


Welcome back from your Labor Day weekend. And with the unofficial end of summer brings the meeting and planning season.  The time when everyone starts asking what’s your forecast for 2015, and management asks itself, “what are we going to […]


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Customer Service  / eBusiness  / eMarketing  / Logistics  / More Insights  / Productivity  / Technology
The Evolving World of ERP Companies
David Gordon Posted On August 21, 2014


ERP companies are integral to the success of electrical distributors as they control, or impact (in no particular order) order processing, inventory, pricing, supply chain issues (EDI, VMI, SPAs), delivery (and routing), accounting / finance, purchasing, credit, invoicing, collections, customer […]


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Customer Service  / Distributors  / eBusiness  / eMarketing  / Growth Strategies  / Industry News  / More Insights  / Pricing  / Productivity  / Profitability
Worried About Amazon Supply? Start Planning Now!
David Gordon Posted On August 20, 2014


If you are worried about Amazon Supply, you probably already know something that you’ve been unwilling to admit openly. ….that is your product data base stinks. That is to say, you probably don’t have good images, UPC codes or even […]


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Contractors  / Growth Strategies  / Marketing  / More Insights  / Research Reports
Are you content or a risk-taker?
David Gordon Posted On August 14, 2014


The advent of August brings the end of summer.  Kids head back to school, the final weekend of the summer is only a few weeks away and management starts thinking about meeting season. August also is a harbinger of planning […]


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Associations  / Distributors  / eBusiness  / Manufacturers  / More Insights  / People in the News  / Productivity  / Profitability
IDEA Changes Leadership
David Gordon Posted On August 6, 2014


Late last week came news that Bob Gaylord, former president of IDEA, was leaving the organization to pursue “other interests” (which, as an aside, is a nice euphemism!).  Bob was a nice guy and contributed much time and energy to […]


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