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 […]
The year started off with a division of a national chain changing marketing groups. IMARK announced that USESI, a member of Equity/EDN, had joined the group. In case you are not familiar with USESI, they are the sister company to […]
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, […]
Yesterday’s announcement from the National Bureau of Economic Research that the economy is in a recession wasn’t a surprise. Nor was the fact that the economy has been slowing since last December. While it may be surprising that December was […]
About 10 days ago we attended the NAED Eastern and met with a number of manufacturers and distributors. The tenor of the meeting was interesting as distributors and manufacturers had differing views regarding their 2009 outlook and green remained the […]
Tomorrow starts the third leg of each fall’s annual planning process – the NAED Eastern Region Conference, which is being held in Marco Island, FL (and hopefully the golf courses won’t all be full!)With most people asking “what are you […]
With many companies currently developing their 2009 plans, its important to remember that there are many opportunities to take share, drive revenue and improve profitability in this marketplace.In fact, history shows that companies that take a prudent, aggressive, stance in […]
