In a “down” market, are contractors loyal? And the definition of “down” depends upon where you are and what you compare against. Versus the “go-go” days of the past year? Yes, then many are down, or not having the same […]
Last week’s Electrical Association of Philadelphia’s (EAP) Electric Expo was another testament to “customer engagement and showing product” is important. The show, typically held every other year by EAP, generated over 3,000 registrations of which 2250 attended (75% “show up” […]
Last week NECA held the electrical distribution industry’s largest conference of the year, the result of the convergence of contractors and manufacturers in Austin, TX. There were over 300 manufacturer, distributor, and software company booths in the Exhibit Hall. This […]
Copper, as every electrical distributor knows, is either a key component of sales (especially construction-oriented distributors) or a key component of many products. From a pricing viewpoint, if can be volatile. At times, as in the past few years, it […]
For years we’ve talked that eCommerce is more than trying to get people to buy via a website, especially when over 40% of total electrical purchases are via contractors with about 30-40% of this business being projects. And the industrial […]
It’s not often that the acquisition of a distributor’s “customer” would be newsworthy from a national scale but SJE’s recent acquisition of Horlick, a New England based system integrator caught our attention. Why? Because the acquirer, SJE, is also owned […]
My last article comparing the lighting and supply representation models produced discussions that continue. It was then requested we consider other channels to see what manufacturers and distributors could learn. I decided to look at the HVAC channel with given […]
Back in the fall, HMI released a white paper, researched and written by Channel Marketing Group, titled “6 Contractor Trends Affecting Distributor Relationships”. The report focused on 6 specific areas that over 750 contractors from a number of construction industries. […]
Earlier this week Southwire announced its second acquisition in two weeks. Last week it acquired OBI Partners to support its utility business and, based upon a review of OBI’s website and reviewing the press release, this appears to be a […]
Or I could have titled this “Replicating Your Customer’s Experience – Why Text Should Be Part of Your eCommerce Offering.” Earlier this year we conducted research on contractor decision drivers in working with distributors for a client. While admittedly it […]
