The term LEDs is synonymous with energy savings. They typical distributor either promotes LEDs as an energy savings initiative or quotes lighting projects that specify LEDs as the light / lamp source. There is nothing wrong with either but, as […]
Over the past couple of years there has been a number of initiatives, as well as much time and money invested, into ecommerce. While essentially everyone feels that this is an essential service to offer for longer-term growth (or survival), […]
It’s that time of year when distributors are either beginning, in the midst of or completing their their 2016 marketing plans. Sometimes promotional initiatives are inserted as “generic” with details left for later, sometimes the team has a brainstorm and scopes […]
Last week’s NAED epitomized much of the change that the industry is experiencing. Attendance, per NAED’s registration list, was 585 registrants (although some did not attend but did not cancel). The continuing result of consolidation? Companies scaling back expenses due to […]
The question of what influence a distributor has on their customers is often debated. What percentage of the time do customers know what they want (and hence the distributor acts as an “order taker” or fulfillment source) and what percentage […]
Earlier this month I attended the AD Electrical Supply Division (ESD) National Annual Meeting (NAM) held at the Gaylord Texan in Dallas. The theme was Together, We Win, a continuation of their recent branding strategy. The meeting attracted about 1,000 […]
Your salespeople are great, right? After all, they are YOUR salespeople. When the economy is going great (you remember when!!), everyone hit their sales goals or achieved ever higher levels. When it muddles along and goals are not achieved, excuses […]
Last week we received a press release, which was published in multiple outlets, from Datalliance announcing that Legrand’s Wiremold line, Hoffman and ILSCO “are continuing to expand their Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) programs with a growing list of distributors and utilities […]
Over the past couple of months we’ve noticed the advertising campaign that AD (Affiliated Distributors) has launched. We’ve seen online ads on a number of trade publication websites as well as MDM. Their new tagline “Together, We Win” infers a sense of community, […]
The last couple of weeks have seen a couple of billion dollar buys that will have some affect on electrical distributors and manufacturers for significantly different reasons and coincidentally both deals originated with Home Depot. While independent entities, many will […]
