Page 137 – Electrical Trends

Channel Strategies / Distributors / eBusiness / eMarketing / Growth Strategies / More Insights / Technology

Affordable eCommerce for Smaller Distributors

David Gordon Posted On December 12, 2016

As everyone knows, there has been much discussion regarding eCommerce and how it is “vital” for the survival of distributors. It’s essential to compete against Amazon. And small distributors (<$25M) are dinosaurs, destined to become extinct because of their inability […]

Distributors / Growth Strategies / Industry News / Marketing / More Insights / Sales Channel

Looking Forward – Industry Outlook for Basic Sales Forecasting

David Gordon Posted On December 1, 2016

Only 30 days left in the year. And with all of the year-end things to do and possibly meetings you had to attend, many are just getting around to doing their 2017 planning … or at least sales forecasting. The […]

Industry News / Lighting / Lighting2 / More Insights / Pricing / Profitability / Renewables

The future of utility rebates could be “fungible”

David Gordon Posted On November 28, 2016

Many electrical and lighting distributors have devoted resources to marketing, selling and managing utility rebates to support their customers and as a differentiator to earning lighting retrofit projects. Frequently utility rebates are used to support LED sales. The rationale essentially […]

Channel Strategies / Manufacturers / More Insights / Reps / Sales Channel

Lessons from a Year as a Lighting Agent

David Gordon Posted On November 20, 2016

Recently a lighting rep who recently completed his first year at his firm, after spending six years in a variety of lighting manufacturer roles, shared his observations. The rep, Tom Salter, who works for SESCO Lighting, allowed ElectricalTrends to share […]

Advocacy / Associations / Manufacturers / More Insights / Productivity / Profitability / Reps / Sales Channel / Technology

NEMRA Finalizes POS / POT Standards … 26 Manufacturers Endorse

David Gordon Posted On November 15, 2016

For the past 18 months NEMRA has been working with its NMG (NEMRA Manufacturer Group) to better understand the impact of the lack of industry standards to report point of sale (POS) and point of transfer (POT) between distributors and […]

Associations / Industry Consolidation / Industry News / Lighting / Lighting2 / Manufacturers / More Insights / Technology

NAED 2017 Eastern Region Observations

David Gordon Posted On November 13, 2016

Last week’s NAED 2017 Eastern Region Conference started the association meeting season with a whimper, albeit much of the “lack of energy” may not be attributable to NAED, especially given the need to book meeting space years in advance. The meeting […]

Branding / Marketing / More Insights / Reps

Electing to Market Through Video

David Gordon Posted On November 6, 2016

With Tuesday being Election Day, far be it from me, or a rep agency, to try to influence an election, but the debates have captured our attention. Living in a “swing state” I can say unequivocally that I am tired of […]

Contractors / Customer Segments / Industrial Market / Industry News / Lighting / Lighting2 / Marketing Groups / More Insights

Leaders and Laggards – Graybar, AD, Grainger and WESCO Q3 Reports

David Gordon Posted On November 1, 2016

Over the past week we’ve been able to gain a sense of the distribution market with major distribution “networks” reporting quarterly performance. Last week we shared Rexel’s North American (and US) performance. Now we have insight from Graybar, AD and […]

Customer Segments / Industry News / Lighting / Lighting2 / Manufacturers / Marketing Groups / More Insights / Technology

Lights On, Lights Off – The Tale of Cree and Acuity

David Gordon Posted On November 1, 2016

You may remember the tv ads for The Clapper. The device where you clapped and the lights went on; clap again and they went off. It appears to be making a comeback, albeit as an analogy for Acuity and Cree. […]

Distributors / Industry News / More Insights

Rexel North America Down More than Market

David Gordon Posted On October 30, 2016

Rexel’s North American group, which represents 35% of company sales continues to underperform the market. Some highlights / lowlights from their quarterly report: Corporately, organic sales down 4.3% (including negative pricing from copper of .9% worldwide); down 5.6% including currency […]