Manufacturers Archives

Industry drug of choice (rebates) or valuing yourself?

David Gordon Posted On February 11, 2015

I was talking to a couple of distributors this week and the topic of new / potential suppliers and rebates came up in the discussion. Now mind you, I know the value of rebates to distributors as I was the […]

Lighting / Lighting2 / Manufacturers / More Insights / Profitability / Research Reports / Technology

Cable Technology Trends: How Does This Affect You?

David Gordon Posted On February 6, 2015

Obviously the answer is “big time”. When we think of technology we think of ERP systems, CRM, eCommerce, perhaps mobility, RF for a warehouse and more from a tools perspective. From a “product” viewpoint there is LED, controls as well […]

Associations / Channel Strategies / eMarketing / Growth Strategies / Manufacturers / Marketing / More Insights / Reps / Research Reports / Technology

NEMRA 2015 Delivers

David Gordon Posted On February 1, 2015

Last week I attended the NEMRA 2015 Conference in San Diego along with almost 1800 manufacturer reps and manufacturers. It is the largest single event in the electrical industry. A short five years ago it had about 1000 attendees, which […]

Associations / Industry Consolidation / Industry News / Manufacturers / More Insights / People in the News / Profitability

2015 NAED Western … Input from Electrical Wholesaling

David Gordon Posted On January 27, 2015

Last week was highlighted by the NAED Western in San Diego. While we weren’t there due to business conflicts, we have heard feedback from a number of distributors and manufacturers. The current issue of Electrical Marketing did share some highlights […]

Channel Strategies / Customer Segments / Distributors / eBusiness / eMarketing / Growth Strategies / Industry Consolidation / Industry News / Lighting / Lighting2 / Manufacturers / Marketing / More Insights / People in the News / Research Reports / Sales Channel / Supplier / Products

10 Issues that May Be Keeping You Up at Night

David Gordon Posted On December 18, 2014

This posting is adapted from a recent article in Channel Marketing Group‘s newsletter. The thoughts in italics are added commentary. “As we close out the year we thought we’d share observations from conversations we’ve had with manufacturers and distributors recently. […]

Associations / Distributors / eBusiness / Manufacturers / More Insights / People in the News / Productivity / Profitability / Technology

IDEA Appoints New Leadership … Strongest Yet?

David Gordon Posted On November 25, 2014

IDEA made a leadership move this week and potentially gave the electrical industry a reason to be thankful this Thanksgiving week. The organization, essentially a joint venture between NEMA and NAED, announced an executive leadership team that combines the experience […]

Associations / Distributors / eBusiness / Industry News / Lighting / Lighting2 / Manufacturers / More Insights

NAED 2015 Eastern Observations … 3 Days in Marco Island

David Gordon Posted On November 18, 2014

Last week Stan and I attended the NAED Eastern in Marco Island. While NAED likes to go to nice places, and the Marriott has a very good lobby area for meetings, looking out the window at crystal blue skies and […]

Branding / Channel Strategies / Growth Strategies / Industry Consolidation / Lighting / Lighting2 / Manufacturers / Marketing Groups / More Insights / Supplier / Products

Eaton … a formidable platform?

David Gordon Posted On October 29, 2014

This morning I was listening to the Eaton quarterly analyst call and I was reminded of conversations from the recent AD meeting as well as discussions with some IMARK distributors after the recent IMARK meeting. And there appears to be […]

Channel Strategies / Distributors / Growth Strategies / Lighting / Lighting2 / Manufacturers / More Insights / Sales Channel / Supplier / Products

Comments and Insights re LED Suppliers

David Gordon Posted On October 23, 2014

A couple of weeks ago we had a posting that related to Cree’s significant share drop based upon a pre-announcement of “missing” on analyst projections (and not really by a lot to us lay people) and mentioning that the LED […]