Page 149 – Electrical Trends

Contractors / Customer Segments / Growth Strategies / Lighting / Lighting2 / More Insights / Supplier / Products

LED Growth Exploding

David Gordon Posted On May 9, 2016

Our friend Bill Attardi at Energy Watch shared interesting data he obtained regarding the exploding growth of the LED market … and the growth is startling and has major ramifications relating to the LED market. Here shared this five year […]

Customer Segments / Distributors / Industrial Market / Industry Consolidation / Industry News / More Insights

Publicly Held Electrical Distributor Q1 Reports

David Gordon Posted On May 2, 2016

Anixter, Rexel and WESCO make up the electrical industry’s publicly held distributors. Here’s what they said on their recent analyst calls / press releases (and, as usual, we’ll focus on their electrical reports): Anixter From an article in the Daily […]

Industrial Market / Industry News / Manufacturers / More Insights

Pentair (Hoffman / ERICO) and Hubbell Echo Market

David Gordon Posted On May 1, 2016

Continuing with our quarterly reviews, let’s look at Hubbell and Pentair, the parent to Hoffman and ERICO. Hubbell “Solid results. In line with expectations.” Sales up, company-wide, 3% Organic growth of 2% (but foreign currency exchange of -2%!) Completed 2 […]

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

So how was the first quarter for ABB and Schneider Electric / Square D?

David Gordon Posted On April 28, 2016

We’re a month past the first quarter and publicly held companies are starting to report their quarterly reports. Here we review ABB and Schneider Electric. (comments are in italics) ABB Within the channel we think of ABB as ABB products and […]

Jobs / More Insights

VP International Sales Position – Search Closed

David Gordon Posted On April 27, 2016

Topaz, a leading manufacturer of lighting and electrical products is seeking a seasoned International Sales Executive to further develop its International Sales Division. Topaz is seeking someone with experience in the electrical / lighting industry who has experience selling to electrical distributors internationally. The […]

More Insights / People in the News

What companies are looking for in new hires

David Gordon Posted On April 26, 2016

Throughout Q1 we’ve heard of a number of companies, manufacturers and distributors, who have undergone some “cost reductions” (the euphemism for layoffs). This has created opportunities for others in a hiring mode to be more “selective” in their hiring. Some […]

Awards / Distributors / Growth Strategies / More Insights / Supplier / Products

Why Product Launches Fail

David Gordon Posted On April 20, 2016

We’re finally through the planning season (yes, it is April and distributors now have less than 9 months to achieve supplier objectives!) and some of manufacturers discussed their new product launch plans (and maybe a distributor shared their approach to new […]

Distributors / Industrial Market / Industry News / More Insights

Grainger’s Q1 2016 Highlights Industrial Challenges

David Gordon Posted On April 18, 2016

Grainger released its Q1 results today. Historically they represent a proxy for the industrial and industrial MRO market so we decided to review for insights…(italics are commentary). The bottom line is that business is essentially flat in the US with […]

Channel Strategies / Growth Strategies / Marketing / More Insights / Pricing / Productivity / Profitability / Research Reports

Drive for Data

David Gordon Posted On April 15, 2016

Over the past month or so Allen and I have had a number of calls for data. Some are from owners / senior management, some from marketing personnel and some from operational staff. The calls are from manufacturers and distributors. […]

Customer Segments / Lighting / Lighting2 / Marketing / More Insights / Renewables / Supplier / Products

Ace is the Place For …

David Gordon Posted On April 13, 2016

You may remember the iconic jingle of “Ace is the place with the helpful hardware folks” but did you know that Ace is the place for LED lighting? According to an article in the April issue of Hardware & Building Supply […]