The hot new form of AI is rapidly spreading into the business world. Two distributors describe their AI journeys.
Articles
Menu
Regardless of how we got here, what many of us discovered is a career that offers more than just selling and moving boxes.
WMS, LMS, OMS, WES, YMS: whatever acronym we use, they’re all tools, but they’ll never replace the need for leadership.
Upcoming Programs
Join us on June 4, 9 PT/12 ET, as we delve into strategies for leveraging these platforms to boost sales and stay competitive.
Join us on Thursday, June 5, 2025 at 9 PT/12 ET for a new AI News and Gurus: The Show for Intelligent Distributors
Join us on June 11, 2025 at 9 PT / 12 ET as we delve into the current state of distributor pricing and costing
Join us on June 18, 9 PT/12 ET, to explore the data infrastructure behind the electrical, HVAC, and plumbing industries, and where it’s headed
Trent Gillespie will detail approach to AI in a keynote entitled “Designing an AI-enabled business” at Distribution Strategy Group’s Applied AI for Distributors conference.
Whatever else happens in the world, your competitors will use AI to drive performance.
In logistics, we track everything: fill rates, dock turns, labor ratios. But leadership? That’s harder to quantify.
Recent Reports
Just getting a listing is no longer enough. Google confirmed a few days ago that businesses must have activity within a six-month period or
B-to-B purchasing is experiencing a major shift toward a multichannel model with an online focus. Online firms, such as Amazon, have elevated our expectation
Because of reduced barrier to entry, distributors of all sizes have now launched or are launching an e-commerce capability. However, a significant percentage of
February 2015, State of Distributor E-Commerce survey of more than 400 distributors conducted with Modern Distribution Management. Ongoing Shopping and Buying survey of several
Last month, we saw Google roll out their well-publicized update that rewarded mobile-friendly websites. That was great news for distributors that had responsive (or
Distributors tend to be experts in products and the market niches they serve. We often see distributors being very good at several aspects of
It’s no secret that mobile-friendly sites are important today and will be even more important in the future. Many distributors’ website visitors are in
This article examines the results of the 2015 State of E-Commerce in Distribution Survey and how the industry’s e-commerce offerings are maturing. Part 2
Increasingly, we hear distributors say that their e-commerce site is not getting the revenue traction they expected. The distributor went into the initiative thinking,
Companies typically start with small customers, grow some of them into large customers, continue to add new small customers and learn a lot from
Distribution Strategy Group conducted an electronic survey of 305 participants to better understand trends in distribution marketing. This survey was conducted with Modern Distribution
Distributors and wholesalers have been dealing with the “small order problem” for decades. Now, more than ever, mastering the policies and procedures that are
The 2014 distributor marketing survey covered several areas of marketing, including planning, objectives, vehicles, channels and organization. Companies are using more digital marketing than
For most distributors, the top 10 percent of their customers represent 60 percent to 90 percent of that distributor’s revenue. Those customers are well
If you give a salesperson 100 accounts to call on, odds are he or she will actively work the top 20 to 30, receive
E-commerce demand generation is in transition. According to results from the third annual MDM Distribution E-Commerce Survey, while most distributors are increasing e-commerce revenue
This article examines the results of the 2014 State of E-Commerce in Distribution Survey and how the industry’s e-commerce offerings are maturing. Part 2
Over the last 20 years, there has been a broad movement by distributors to make operational improvements such as supply chain management, process standardization,
They are undifferentiated because they say and offer essentially the same thing as their competitors. They are not relevant because they have not been
When we ask executives for the value proposition of their business, they usually provide a ready, confident and well-rehearsed answer. The answer consists of
Customers have indicated a preference to receive communications in both digital and print formats. It’s not a surprise that they still want to receive
Some of the best distribution companies have unified the diverse voices that make up a business into one message, both internally and externally. I
Data points in time indicate a real trend either up or down less than half of the time. By tracking trends, we can do
Ask the best private equity investors, or for that matter, any acquiring company such as chains, vertical convergers or platform investors – even independent
E-commerce revenue as a portion of total revenue has grown significantly in the past year through the growth of existing e-commerce sites, as well
You are familiar with the portfolio concept if you own any kind of equity, bond, real estate or other investment fund. If you’re familiar
Many independent distribution companies wonder why their gross margin, net profit and attendant multiples are inferior to their $2 billion-plus sales, national-market, publicly held
In this article, I will discuss a useful approach, the Private Equity Investor Framework, which will help you think like an investor to improve
The vast majority of distributors who are still in business today have good direct salespeople without whom they would not be in business. Yet
Although e-commerce initiatives are front and center for many distributors today, in-store revenue remains essential. Yet most distributors with walk-in trade place limited emphasis