Page 128 – Electrical Trends

Changes in the Wire / Cable World, Prysmian Wins General Cable

David Gordon Posted On December 10, 2017

Recent news of Prysmian winning the General Cable sweepstakes brings a close to the auction of the business that was started this summer as both have benefited from higher copper prices … and hopefully that helped General Cable optimize its […]

Branding / Customer Segments / Growth Strategies / Manufacturers / Marketing / More Insights / Profitability

What’s the Value of a Manufacturer’s Brand?

David Gordon Posted On December 6, 2017

Over the past few months as we’ve sat in strategy development meetings with distributors, reviewed distributor purchasing information and talked to manufacturer reps and contractors we’ve seen a purchasing trend that is roiling the industry. The trend, which mirrors what […]

Customer Segments / Industrial Market / Industry News / More Insights / Research Reports

Info to Help Your 2018 Planning

David Gordon Posted On December 6, 2017

Occasionally we come across information that can assist your planning. Below is info regarding the MidAtlantic industrial market, the residential market and how to improve warehouse operations. Industrial Planning Information The Mid-Atlantic market region, which includes Maryland, North Carolina, South […]

Associations / Customer Segments / Distributors / eBusiness / eMarketing / Growth Strategies / Industry Consolidation / Industry News / Lighting / Lighting2 / Manufacturers / Marketing Groups / More Insights / Productivity / Technology

2018 NAED Eastern Recap & Observations

David Gordon Posted On November 28, 2017

Just before Thanksgiving we attended the NAED Eastern Region conference which was held at the Marriott Tampa Waterside (which is a good hotel for this meeting). The Eastern kicked-off the 2018 NAED Regional Conference schedule. The meeting had a reported […]

Industry News / More Insights

Thinking About 2018 GDP

David Gordon Posted On November 20, 2017

An interesting report was released by Goldman Sachs this week titled “As Good as It Gets.” The article shares Goldman’s 2018 GDP outlook, globally as well as for the US. Given that many are finalizing their 2018 forecasts, thought is […]

Distributors / More Insights / Productivity / Profitability

Improving Profitability Through Warehouse Transformation

David Gordon Posted On November 20, 2017

Recently we’ve been talking to distributors and manufacturers about the impact of eCommerce on their business as well as assisting on their 2018 planning. While growth is a recurring theme (as expected) as is the goal of improved profitability, an […]

Channel Strategies / eBusiness / More Insights / Productivity / Profitability

Amazon Business Isn’t the Greatest Threat, Customer Expectations Is

David Gordon Posted On November 14, 2017

As electrical distributors launch, or prepare to launch, their eCommerce sites, they need to be aware of a key customer dynamic that is changing…the expectation of accuracy. While many have talked about Amazon Business being a key competitor (or threat), […]

Channel Strategies / Customer Segments / Distributors / Growth Strategies / Lighting / Lighting2 / Marketing / More Insights / Reps / Sales Channel

Acuity Controls the Tiers

David Gordon Posted On November 8, 2017

Many distributors know that Acuity has touted its four tier approach to the market. The first two tiers have essentially been the traditional offering of electrical distributors but there has been some mystique to tiers three and four via its […]

Industrial Market / Industry News / Manufacturers / More Insights / Pricing

Infrastructure Earnings: ABB, Encore, Littelfuse, Eaton

David Gordon Posted On November 8, 2017

Earnings season continued and since we’ve covered lighting, switchgear but only a couple of infrastructure companies, we thought we’d touch on a few more: ABB (T&B) From the earnings call with a focus on ABB Electrification, T&B and the US […]

Channel Strategies / Contractors / Customer Segments / Distributors / Growth Strategies / Industry Consolidation / Industry News / More Insights

Q3 Distributor Insights: AD, Graybar, Rexel and WESCO

David Gordon Posted On November 5, 2017

Electrical distributors have few ways to benchmark their performance versus competition other than talking to peers. AD’s increased transparency provides some insight into the performance of a group of independent distributors, Graybar shares some high level insights that sometimes can […]