Years ago the electrical industy viewed Home Depot as a major threat. First it was a case of DIY customers and smaller contractors leaving electrical distributors for a more convenient retail experience and most recently it was Home Depot’s foray […]
We’re hearing from a number of sources that a number of the national chains, specifically Graybar, WESCO and Rexel (and possibly more) are selectively closing branches, primarily in what one manufacturer calls the “sand states” (Southwest / West Coast). This […]
Grainger continues to invest in its website as it prepares to introduce its latest iteration.We recently received an email announcing that the new site will be “up and running” in the next few weeks. The site will feature: Improved searching […]
48 years ago, Pete Seeger wrote a song that is making a comeback in the electrical industry. While he called his song “Where Have All The Flowers Gone?”, in the electrical industry we might call this “Where Have All The […]
Consider these comments from senior managers. Do they sound familiar or are reminiscent of your market? “efforts to use limited discounts to lure customers to full-priced items don’t work” “aggressively marketed price reductions help keep sales momentum” “shoppers have been […]
A little unabashed advertising (after all, we need to pay for the blog!!)With only 5 months remaining in the year (and about 30 days till the end of the summer), many manufacturers are beginning to think about their 2010 planning.2009 […]
Some interesting information has been shared by public companies over the past couple of days as well as some construction forecast information. Hubbell purchased Burndy this week, netting itself a $225M company for $360M. On the surface this appears to […]
We’ve been talking with distributors the last couple of weeks and a common refrain is the lack of profitability in much of their businesses. Many are attributing this to marketplace pricing strategies and some distributors’ desire to take share based […]
Lately the lighting world has been in the news. Some recent articles of note: TCP has announced that it is going to offer its own branded line of CFLs, putting them in direcvt competition with the Big 3 for CFLs […]
