A recent article in Forbes posed this question, “What happens when you don’t build more power plants?” and we’ll add “and the future of the automotive industry is electric cars”. Combine the two, plus the fact that electricity usage is […]
With commodity pricing soaring, many manufacturers are pushing price increases down to distributors who are scrambling to enter the information into their systems to update costs and then pass them on to their customers where ever they can. Sometimes they […]
Last week we interviewed a number of distributors in preparation for an operationally-oriented article we are writing based upon feedback we received in our Channel Challenges survey. The article will focus on at least three operational issues – data synchronization, […]
Historically distribution marketing has revolved around promotions and events (some with training). Other elements of marketing such as strategy development, customer and competitive research, satisfaction initiatives, direct marketing and brand development, to name a few, have been neglected. And in […]
Earlier this year we conducted a survey entitled “Channel Challenges” where we solicited input on the challenges that persist between manufacturers, distributors and reps. We’ve recently written a couple of articles on some of the challenges. An upcoming article will […]
Welcome to the unofficial start of summer and to the official start of $4/gallon gas! Over the past month we conducted a survey asking distributors how they are addressing this rising cost which threatens many distributors’ bottom lines. Over 250 […]
The past few days, about 800 individuals from the industry gathered in San Francisco for the NAED Executive Leadership Conference (formerly the NAED Annual). NAED claims that attendance was very strong based upon the number of companies that attended (with […]
We might be saying goodbye to GE in the electrical industry in the near future. Although the Appliance group is going first, could lamps be far behind? According to www.wsj.com today, “General Electric plans to start an auction for its […]
While not much has been publicly said about private labeling / corporate brands (one distributor’s euphemism for this sourcing strategy), a number of large, European-influenced companies continue to develop their product offerings. And with margins being squeezed, operating costs increasing […]
A little levity for the weekend, and a comment on the value of change orders to contractors … where the real money is. It helps when the “normal” change order price differential is some 40 to 60% higher material cost […]
