And customers are asking for it, as this webinar from Purchasing magazine shows. Much is made in the industry about product attributes for data content and distributors discuss the need for content-rich data to power their e-stores as well as […]
The current economic environment is creating challenges for many distributors. The burst in commodity prices has significantly impacted distributor gross margins as they have rushed to move higher cost inventory. The financial effects of selling something for less than you […]
Sorry haven’t been able to post some thoughts for the past couple of weeks. We’ve been traveling to clients and been in the midst of helping them launch 2009 strategies and adjust operations. We’ve picked up a number of “random” […]
Metrics help you analyze your business, set goals and benchmark yourself against others. Many like to consider industry benchmarks to determine their “success”. When you look at your 2008 information, beware. While your numbers may mirror the industry (and why […]
Over the past year, IDEA has used a quote that I wrote in its advertising. The quote was in a research paper Neil Gillespie and I wrote over 3 ½ years ago (May 2005) entitled “A Valuable IDEA”. The report, […]
Last week we touched on some of the challenges that the free-fall decline of copper can have on distributors. And the issue can be just as challenging for wire manufacturers, especially since they probably had to lock in raw material […]
With a drop of over 35%, copper is having a profound impact on distributors, especially with end of year coming up, and the future doesn’t look too good either. In less than a month copper has fallen from $3.32 on […]
Cleaning out the office and the newsletters we receive and wanted to share some observations: Tedmag.com and Bill Attardi’s EnergyWatch alluded to Philips changing the name of Advance Transformer to Philips Lighting Electronics. We asked a couple of distributors about […]
Recently we’ve spoken to a number of distributors about the operational aspect of their business. A recurring trend is the interest in improving cashflow. While a group of distributors have focused on better managing their inventory investments, many are looking […]
Monday’s WSJ had an article that discussed the relationship between productivty and recessions. According to the article, productivity during the six recessions since 1970 grew only 0.8%, on average, whereas this year it has estimated to have grown by 2.5%. […]
David Gordon
Channel Marketing Group
919-488-8635
