Home Depot’s retiring CFO’s interview last night with Jim Cramer on CNBC shared a glimpse of why electrical distributors who serve small to mid-sized residential and commercial distributors should be concerned. And it\'s all about pricing. The home improvement (perhaps better described as a “construction”) behemoth is the leader in serving the DIY market. And yes, we’ve … [Read more...] about Home Depot to Offer Customized Pro Pricing
Industry News
Reducing Tax Implications of Incentive Travel Programs
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 PicDeer) for probably 250+ contractor customers (plus spouses, extra trips earned), salespeople / corporate staffs and spouses as well as sponsoring … [Read more...] about Reducing Tax Implications of Incentive Travel Programs
Home Depot Orange Coming to Your Customer
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” (red). And it’s the color of Home Depot and many distributors may be seeing Home Depot trucks visiting their contractors in the … [Read more...] about Home Depot Orange Coming to Your Customer
Will Alexa Bring Smart?
Many talk about the impact of Amazon. It’s impact on societal expectation. Influence on retail. It’s emergence as an MRO platform through Amazon Business. It’s foray into branded products / private labeling through Amazon Basics and its integration into the platform of many companies through Amazon Web Services (AWS). And, remember, it’s entered into homes (and some … [Read more...] about Will Alexa Bring Smart?
Amazon Business is a Nominal Electrical Distributor Competitor
Interesting article in Electrical Wholesaling, “Amazon Business is Growing. Do Distributors Have a Plan” written by Unilog essentially saying you need to either join or fight Amazon Business because they are / will be taking over the distribution business (and since Unilog placed this article in EW, presumably they believe that the electrical channel is at risk.) The article, … [Read more...] about Amazon Business is a Nominal Electrical Distributor Competitor
Home Depot … Pros, Website, Analytical Tool Investments to Grow the Business
Earlier today Home Depot presented at the Raymond James 39th Annual Institutional Investors Conference. While, overall, Home Depot is not a significant competitor to electrical distributors, if you serve the residential electrical contractor / builder market or the small contractor market, they are a significant competitor (and our eCommerce Contractor Insights survey showed … [Read more...] about Home Depot … Pros, Website, Analytical Tool Investments to Grow the Business
State of eCommerce According to Electrical Contractors & Buyers
According to a recent study conducted by Channel Marketing Group titled \"State of eCommerce, Electrical Contractor & End-User Insights\", electrical buyers are accelerating their usage of online tools for product research, downloading of spec sheets, seeking pricing and checking inventory. While online ordering ranks typically 5th out of six usages, based upon segment, … [Read more...] about State of eCommerce According to Electrical Contractors & Buyers
