Profitability Archives

Channel Strategies / Distributors / eBusiness / eMarketing / Growth Strategies / More Insights / Pricing / Profitability / Sales Channel

Using Price to Expand Your Business

David Gordon Posted On July 24, 2019

Competing on price is a “no no” for many distributors. Few want to say “the reason why people buy from me is price.” But, do all of your customers want to buy from you for your service, people or your […]

Channel Strategies / Distributors / eBusiness / Growth Strategies / Industrial Market / Marketing / More Insights / Productivity / Profitability

Compete for Grainger’s Business: eProcurement

David Gordon Posted On July 12, 2019

Many industrially-oriented distributors lament that they can’t compete versus Grainger for MRO business at their accounts. They say “we now the ‘decision’ makers and can beat them on price but we can’t get the business. The same occurs with large […]

Channel Strategies / Contractors / Distributors / Growth Strategies / Manufacturers / Marketing / More Insights / Profitability / Sales Channel

Reducing Tax Implications of Incentive Travel Programs

David Gordon Posted On June 26, 2019

This week WESCO is taking 800+ people on an Alaskan cruise as part of their WESCO VIP incentive program. It looks like an exciting adventure (check out this pre-program video and follow them on their program Instagram page or on […]

Associations / Distributors / eBusiness / eMarketing / Manufacturers / More Insights / Productivity / Profitability / Technology

THE Electrical Industry Technology Conference: IDEA’s eBiz

David Gordon Posted On June 23, 2019

Serious about utilizing technology in your business? Then you need to be at IDEA’s eBiz. Technology is becoming more and more a critical component of a distributor and manufacturer’s business. Not only is it the software and hardware, it is […]

Associations / Branding / Channel Strategies / Contractors / Customer Segments / Distributors / eBusiness / eMarketing / Growth Strategies / Industry News / Marketing / More Insights / Profitability

Home Depot Orange Coming to Your Customer

David Gordon Posted On June 5, 2019

The color orange signifies joy, happiness and creativity, however, it is also representative of fire and, given that the color is between yellow and red on the color spectrum it is, from a business perspective, between caution (yellow) and “bad” […]

Industry News / Lighting / Lighting2 / Manufacturers / More Insights / Pricing / Profitability / Purchasing / Renewables / Supplier / Products

Impacts On Lighting If China Weaponizes Rare Earth Metals

David Gordon Posted On June 3, 2019

We know tariffs can impact the electrical business. But rare earth metals? We’ve had tariffs after last year’s tariffs on steel, aluminum and a number of other products. The recent acceleration of tariffs on Chinese imported products (price increases from […]

Distributors / Industry News / Manufacturers / More Insights / Pricing / Productivity / Profitability

The Muddled World of Tariffs in the Electrical Industry

David Gordon Posted On May 31, 2019

For a word that wasn’t part of the national conscience, it is now front and center and bringing disruption to business. Tariffs. In an industry where price increases occurred annually, where pricing was stable except for copper, companies have now […]

Distributors / eBusiness / Growth Strategies / Industrial Market / More Insights / Productivity / Profitability / Sales Channel

What is e-Procurement?

David Gordon Posted On May 22, 2019

The article we had last month introducing Greenwing Technology as a punchout / e-Procurement resource and a new ElectricalTrends advertiser generated much feedback. Part of the reason is it is perceived that “punchouts” is “old school” and perhaps reserved for […]

Distributors / eBusiness / eMarketing / Growth Strategies / Industry News / Logistics / Manufacturers / Marketing / More Insights / Pricing / Productivity / Profitability / Technology

Does it feel like we’re heading into a recession …

David Gordon Posted On May 14, 2019

Or are we talking ourselves into a recession? Since the fall and the beginning of planning season there have been some economists who have been warning of a second half 2019 slowdown leading to a 2020 recession. Their prognostications were […]

Advocacy / Associations / Customer Service / Distributors / eBusiness / Logistics / Manufacturers / More Insights / Productivity / Profitability / Technology

Research Reaffirms IDEA Benefits Bottom Line

David Gordon Posted On April 15, 2019

IDEA, the Industry Data Exchange Association, which was co-founded by NAED and NEMA in the late 1990’s, undertook one of the larger challenges in the industry and has been navigating change for the past 20 years. The challenge is bringing […]