Industry Outlook Archives

Growth Strategies / Industry Consolidation / Industry Outlook / Lighting / More Insights / Profitability / Reps / Sales Channel

Happy New Year!

David Gordon Posted On January 5, 2020

Happy New Year! As we start the beginning of the first week of the year, and with everyone back, we wanted to take a moment to share our thanks and solicit your input. Thank you First, thank you for your […]

Channel Strategies / Distributors / Growth Strategies / Industry Outlook / Lighting / Manufacturers / More Insights / Supplier / Products

Q4 Closes Wild Lighting Year

David Gordon Posted On January 2, 2020

The quarter is over and the year is done. And what a year it was in the lighting industry. It started with the threat of tariffs. Then IDEAL Industries purchased Cree Lighting, shocking the industry. Tariffs came in May and […]

Industry Outlook / Lighting / More Insights

Pulse of Lighting

David Gordon Posted On December 9, 2019

2019 has been an interesting, and challenging, year for the lighting industry. And the fourth quarter hasn’t disappointed. The first half of the year was dominated with talk, and eventual implementation, of tariffs. While this may have helped mitigate the […]

Associations / eCommerce / Industry Outlook / More Insights / Productivity / Technology

Molitor “Steps Down”; IDEA in Transition

David Gordon Posted On December 4, 2019

Paul Molitor, the president of IDEA since 2014, announced he is stepping down from his role later this month. According to IDEA’s press release the departure is for personal reasons. “The IDEA Board and the entire organization thank you for […]

Advocacy / Associations / Industry Outlook / More Insights

2020 NAED Eastern Observations

David Gordon Posted On November 19, 2019

The NAED meeting season began in full force last week with the NAED Eastern Regional Conference. While a few national chains, AD and IMARK previously held their meetings, the NAED Eastern was the first broad-based meeting for many manufacturers. Overall […]

Industry Outlook / More Insights / Research Reports

2020 Dodge Construction Outlook – Down in Key Segments

David Gordon Posted On November 5, 2019

Each year many in the construction industry eagerly await the Dodge Construction Outlook. For 2020 Dodge Data & Analytics is forecasting a $776 billion construction market. Which sounds great, except it represents a 4% decline versus 2019’s projected activity of […]

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” […]

Channel Strategies / Growth Strategies / Industry Outlook / Marketing / More Insights

2020 Planning

David Gordon Posted On October 28, 2019

We’re in the midst of meeting and planning season and with it comes the perennial question of “what’s the outlook for 2020?” While no one has a crystal ball, it’s safe to say that many think their ball is “cloudy” […]

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 […]