Customer Segments Archives

Digging into Anixter

David Gordon Posted On February 9, 2020

Given that Anixter has been in the consciousness of many in the industry lately due to WESCO’s successful acquisition bid, thought it may be informative to take a deeper dive into Anixter’s recent Q4 / end of year report. Some […]

Contractors / Customer Segments / Distributors / Industrial Market / Industry Consolidation / Industry Outlook / More Insights

WESCO Reports on 2019

David Gordon Posted On February 7, 2020

February is the time for Q4 earnings and outlooks, so, with that let’s look first at WESCO. WESCO From their earnings call: Regarding Anixter, which WESCO cannot share much about, the highlighted a key reason for the acquisition when it […]

Customer Segments / Growth Strategies / Industrial Market / Industry Outlook / Marketing / More Insights / Sales Channel

Selling Services Requires a Plan & Marketing

David Gordon Posted On January 30, 2020

Much is talked about how distributors needing to sell services to differentiate themselves. They need to create / provide solutions and will need to generate revenue from these services. While some of the discussed services are unbundling, what is currently […]

Associations / Channel Strategies / Customer Segments / Distributors / eCommerce / Growth Strategies / Industry Consolidation / Industry Outlook / Manufacturers / Marketing Groups / More Insights / Reps

2020 NAED Western Observations

David Gordon Posted On January 26, 2020

Last week’s NAED Western, held in Phoenix and attended by approximately 700 people, was a productive event according to many who attended the industry’s first conference of the year. For many, one of the takeaways was the amount of walking […]

Channel Strategies / Customer Segments / Distributors / Industry Consolidation / Industry Outlook / Lighting / Manufacturers / More Insights / People in the News

Acuity Report Disappoints; Leadership Changes

David Gordon Posted On January 14, 2020

Acuity reported its 2020 Q1 / 2019 Q4 performance last week and reported a XX% sales decline of which their independent channel (C&I distributors) was down XX%. The question then becomes, “As the industry’s largest US focused lighting manufacturer, is […]

Branding / Customer Segments / Growth Strategies / Marketing / More Insights / Sales Channel

Wants and Needs

David Gordon Posted On December 17, 2019

You’ve heard the story, “there is a difference between wants and needs.” For example, especially this time of year you hear one parent say to the other “the kids ‘want’ the latest and greatest electronic, but do they ‘need’ it?” […]

Contractors / Customer Segments / Distributors / Industrial Market / Industry Outlook / More Insights / Profitability

WESCO Q3 Outperforms Many, Provides Greater Transparency

David Gordon Posted On November 1, 2019

WESCO was the final national distributor to report Q3 earnings this week. Overall they performed well and, surprisingly, the tone of this quarterly called seemed to be more “open” and a little more transparent. From their call and presentation: “Record […]

Contractors / Customer Segments / Distributors / Industrial Market / Industry Consolidation / Industry Outlook / More Insights

Graybar & Anixter Q3 – Two ends of the spectrum

David Gordon Posted On November 1, 2019

Anixter and Graybar reported their Q3 results this week and it appears that, while the market is slowing, the construction market continues to outperform the industrial business. Graybar outperforms the publicly traded national companies. Graybar Graybar is always a “short” […]

Customer Segments / Industrial Market / Industry Outlook / More Insights

Grainger Chugs Along in Q3

David Gordon Posted On October 24, 2019

Grainger’s Q3 2019 report affirmed a slowdown in the US industrial / institutional MRO market, which Grainger outperformed. The performance was driven through sales deployment, an increase in product assortment which generates increased sales of wallet and effective marketing. In […]

Channel Strategies / Customer Segments / Distributors / eBusiness / eMarketing / Growth Strategies / Industrial Market / Logistics / More Insights / Profitability / Sales Channel / Technology

FedEx to Live without Amazon. Lessons for Distributors

David Gordon Posted On September 3, 2019

Last month FedEx announced that they won’t renew a ground-delivery deal they had with Amazon to provide small-package ground deliveries. This follows FedEx’s announcement that it wouldn’t renew Amazon’s FedEx Express contract which Amazon used to transport packages by air. […]