You may remember the famous Philip Drucker phrase “culture eats strategy for breakfast”? You’ve also heard that people leave bosses. Further, bosses are the ones that drive the culture of a company. So, if you want the best people, you […]
Dick Friedman, a warehouse productivity improvement “guru” with much experience working with electrical distributors shares thoughts distributors should consider as there becomes the proverbial “light at the end of the tunnel” for COVID (due to pending vaccines), fierce competition and […]
The major story in the distribution industry yesterday was Home Depot acquiring HD Supply. While many electrical distributors may wonder “why the coverage” as “we don’t compete with them”, the reality is that Home Depot and HD Supply are competing […]
As expected, WESCO and Graybar reported bounce back Q3 quarters as the industry rebounded from a dismal COVID-driven Q2. The two companies, however, portray different stories based upon their customer mix, hence sharing some insights into the construction market (Graybar) […]
Manufacturers are actively inquiring about distributor investment in eCommerce. Some are being proactive and offering resources to their distributors. Festo, a supplier of process control and factory automation solutions, who typically partners with automation distributors, recently developed a collaboration with […]
Recently both Grainger and Rexel shared their Q3 performance. While both experienced growth in Q3 Grainger’s diversification and ability to benefit from the pandemic, as well as its multi-faceted eCommerce offering, continued power performance. The following are insights from their […]
Recently I had the honor to be interviewed by Jason Bader of The DistributionTeam for his 50th podcast Distribution Talk. Our conversation, which you can listen to here, was wide-ranging. We touched on: Acquisitions Customer loyalty programs The role of […]
2020 has been a rollercoaster of a year … Q1, if you can remember that far back, started strong for most distributors. Q2 was the rollercoaster plunge, which we documented in three of our COVID surveys (first, second and third […]
It’s been almost seven months (March) since COVID exploded into the electrical industry. It’s been a roller coaster road for many with everyone expecting the business to fall off the side of the earth in April. And the role of […]
What do market segments such as government, universities / higher education, life sciences, government / municipalities, sports teams, hospitals, agriculture have in common? While most are considered “institutions”, they all are significant users of eProcurement / punchouts as part of […]
