IndustryWeek\'s Manufacturing and Technology Conference, held last week in Raleigh, highlighted the continued infusing of technology into manufacturing ... onto the plant floor as well as through product design. And it\'s a trend that electrical distributors can be uniquely positioned to support and can benefit from. Key words that were used repeatedly included: Smart IoT … [Read more...] about Manufacturing and Technology Trends
Technology & Digital
Digital Distributor Starts with eCommerce Product Content
The term \"digital distributor\" is starting to be used more repeatedly. Granted it can be a consultant\'s way to drum up business but it\'s becoming a term used to express the further reaching impact of doing business digitally and recognition that not all business is going to be done via \"hunt and peck\" clicking on websites. Much of it, however, emanates from the need for … [Read more...] about Digital Distributor Starts with eCommerce Product Content
How Distributors are Adapting to Changing Buyer Demands
Customer expectations are changing how distributors are doing business. They expect more. Some of your competition offers more. And you need to offer more to retain customers and have a hope of capturing new ones. And the changes are much more than offering an online website. There are other technologies you currently own that need to be leveraged as well as data insights. … [Read more...] about How Distributors are Adapting to Changing Buyer Demands
Survey Says … Give Websites Good Product Data
Quality product data is the difference between an \"adequate\" website and one with \"quality\" data that is valued by customers. And \"valued\" is determined by increased traffic, increased sales, a better search experience and being easier to be found via better SEO. The concern, and challenge, according to distributors is that many, if not all, current sources commoditize … [Read more...] about Survey Says … Give Websites Good Product Data
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
2018 State of eCommerce Electrical Contractor & Buyer Insights
Recently Channel Marketing Group survey electrical contractors and electrical buyers within industrial and institutions to gain insight into their eCommerce and online usage. The study was done with support of selected distributors and manufacturers and Electrical Wholesaling. Over 1300 individuals responded to the survey and over 50 interviews were conducted. The report … [Read more...] about 2018 State of eCommerce Electrical Contractor & Buyer Insights
Amazon Business Isn\’t the Greatest Threat, Customer Expectations Is
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), their biggest impact may be on customer expectations ... and the expectation that the inventory information on the website … [Read more...] about Amazon Business Isn\’t the Greatest Threat, Customer Expectations Is
Grainger Turning a Corner?
Continuing our Q3 earnings observations, next up is Grainger which is a traditionally a good barometer for the industrial MRO space and lately has been a case study in value proposition, price and fear of Amazon Business. From the earnings call and their slides: Overall \"a solid quarter and there were some positive signs\". Seeing growth coming from their price reduction … [Read more...] about Grainger Turning a Corner?
What is Good “Product Content”?
For the past few years electrical distributors have been actively investing (in the hopes of eventually deploying) in commerce-enabled websites. This has necessitated that distributors become acquainted with, focus on, invest in and develop product content (data) to power their systems. And they\'ve had to learn the difference between product content that is sufficient / usable … [Read more...] about What is Good “Product Content”?
2018 Planning Countdown
Electrical industry tradeshows start in 4 weeks with AD\'s North American Meeting, quickly followed by the IMARK Annual Meeting and the NAED Eastern, and not counting national meetings for national chains. And with the meetings comes talk regarding 2018 joint planning. In fact, Electrical Wholesaling\'s August issue was titled \"Marketing Planning.\" The 2018 planning season … [Read more...] about 2018 Planning Countdown
Home Depot Q2 – Pro Insights
Home Depot shared its Q2 results yesterday and, while the company continues to perform well as indicated with over $28B in sales, its Pro business, defined as contractors and its Interline business, outperformed the core business. NAED\'s TED Magazine, through its re-publishing relationship with The Associated Press, shared a credible overview of the company\'s financial … [Read more...] about Home Depot Q2 – Pro Insights
Distributors Need to Evolve from Being Product Companies
Distributors traditionally fought for market share via relationship, service and price. The company with the best people, best service and competitive pricing that could provide their customers with access to credit typically won more business in a market. Since a customer couldn\'t buy everything from one company (due to product lines or credit reasons), they shared business … [Read more...] about Distributors Need to Evolve from Being Product Companies
Channel Marketing and Funding … but for eCommerce Initiatives?
The essence of “channel marketing” infers that members within a channel (manufacturer, rep and distributor) are working together to market products, services and applications to generate demand from customers. The term doesn’t infer whom funds the initiative but frequently there are co-marketing, and hence co-funding, initiatives. At times this is co-op, perhaps MDF or other … [Read more...] about Channel Marketing and Funding … but for eCommerce Initiatives?
Increasing Warehouse Accuracy in an Age of Employee Churn
In talking with senior management and HR managers of distributors, a continual challenge is personnel. While frequently these discussions relate to qualified (industry or skilled) personnel for sales, branch management and/or specialists, a frequent comment is the \"churn\" that they experience in their warehouse as well as with their drivers. Low unemployment and the reality … [Read more...] about Increasing Warehouse Accuracy in an Age of Employee Churn
