As distributors seek niche opportunities to capture any amount of business, many are turning to what is perceived as one of the few growth areas … energy efficiency.The energy efficiency market has a number of components and sub-segments. Two areas […]
Lately we’ve been talking to a number of manufacturers about what they are seeing in the market and what their initially planning thoughts are for 2010.While most feel that the market has stabilized (and in some cases seeing a little […]
Years ago the electrical industy viewed Home Depot as a major threat. First it was a case of DIY customers and smaller contractors leaving electrical distributors for a more convenient retail experience and most recently it was Home Depot’s foray […]
We’re hearing from a number of sources that a number of the national chains, specifically Graybar, WESCO and Rexel (and possibly more) are selectively closing branches, primarily in what one manufacturer calls the “sand states” (Southwest / West Coast). This […]
A little bit of an “around the industry” to get the week started: IDEA is going through some personnel changes (and interestingly, just before its E-Biz Forum). After over 35 years in the industry, the last seven as IDEA’s Director […]
In other words, a little bit of everything to end the week! August marks ElectricalTrends’ two year anniversary. During this time we’ve had over 28,195 visits resuting in 39,241 page views from 13,525 unique visitors (all numbers are according to […]
As most industry participants and observers know by now, Rexel has decided to standardize upon one ERP software system, Activant’s Eclipse package. Rexel had been operating different systems for a number of years and trying to aggregate information to support […]
Recently we’ve been contacted by a handful of individuals, whom we’ve known or who have been referred to us, who have decided to start rep firms. Each of the individuals were either in sales / marketing management for manufacturers or […]
Grainger continues to invest in its website as it prepares to introduce its latest iteration.We recently received an email announcing that the new site will be “up and running” in the next few weeks. The site will feature: Improved searching […]
