Over the past five years, roughly 140 independent electrical distributors have been acquired, representing $12-13 billion in industry revenue at the time of sale. One number jumps out every time I dig into the “why”: 98% happened because the owner […]
Rexel opened the second half of 2026 with a clear message: North America—especially the U.S.—is the company’s growth engine, even as tariffs, commodity inflation, and macro uncertainty pressure margins and demand across the broader distribution landscape. Some key highlights from their […]
For years we’ve heard about the need for grid modernization and once of the concerns regarding the growth of data centers is power generation. Industrial factories also play into this. Power generation construction, and subsequent maintenance, is, and will, represent […]
A couple of weeks ago Mark McGready, IDEA‘s Director of Data Analytics and Solutions, attended the Applied AI for Distributors conference and while he shared Nudge with a number of people, upon reflection after the conference, he noticed an elephant […]
Lighting can be complex. It can also be “easy” if you’re just pricing the BOM, receiving the order, monitor delivery / ship it from your warehouse, and then bill it. It can be what you want it to be, based […]
Is the relationship between reps and distributors becoming more essential to our industry? I was interviewing an executive of a national electrical distributor recently, and he related to me his company now found partnering with a manufacturer’s representative more significant […]
The military has been in the news much this year, most recently due to the efforts in the Middle East, but also with pursing terrorism in Nigeria, actions in Venezuela (and drug interdiction), the National Guard supporting when there are […]
Over the past few years there have been a number of AI tools, and companies, launched to support electrical distributors. Many of them launch with one product. Essentially, these are modules for a distributor as they address one issue. They […]
Rexel’s North American group was again the star performer for the company according to their 2026 Q1 earnings call. While the overall business was up only 3.4%, and all regions showed positive growth for the first time in 11 quarters, […]
The industry is losing a friend in a couple of weeks. Joe Huffman, whom many knew as the VP Supplier Relations for CED and also known by many distributors when he was VP Sales for Leviton, announced last week that, […]
