Over the past 1 1/2 to 2 years we’ve had a number of electrical manufacturers and distributors ask us why we think that there have hasn’t been much consolidation during the “great recession” that supposedly we have come out of. […]
We apologize for not having written in the past week and a half, however, client travel sometimes creates timing issues (and you probably don’t want me writing real late at night!) But was listening to CNBC this afternoon. They had […]
From time to time, we get a chance to communicate with some of the industry executives of the near past. Recently we had the pleasure of speaking with Herb Slater, formerly the President of Slater Electric and Duplex Electric Supply. For those of […]
While we know the construction market is down, here’s more confirmation that distributors that are heavily skewed to construction markets are having a hard time. The last two days have reinforced the residential market troubles. New Housing starts down 12.4% […]
Confused and widely divergent by market segment, geographically and by distributor size. Not the answer you were expecting, but sorry, averages can be deceiving. First the averages as reported by electrical distributors and electrical manufacturers on our first half sales […]
Today let’s talk about a topic that is near and dear to many distributors’ and manufacturers’ hearts … marketing groups. Why near and dear? Because, for many distributors, they represent their profit lifeline. For manufacturers they can be the “Good […]
Over the years some distributors have failed to have a serious conversation with the manufacturers they represent about how POS data is used. Then there are some that asked: “If I share POS data, what are you going to do […]
Over the past couple of months we’ve been speaking with a number of electrical distributors and manufacturers about the changing market. Some of these discussions have been in concert with other client projects seeking to better understand their market positioning. During […]
It’s been a busy two weeks but we haven’t forgotten our ET friends. We’re working on a couple of “juicy” postings for the next couple of weeks but wanted to share some online insights that we’ve been tracking. Companies mentioned in […]
Many electrical distributors promote that they are “full service” electrical distributors, inferring that they offer a range of electrical products. Many successful distributors have expanded the definition of “full service” to mean: they sell electrical products that are applicable for […]
