If you aren’t building high-tech platforms that make it hyper-efficient for your customers to execute simple transactions, you’re losing the game. But simply adopting a high-tech model isn’t the answer either.
Strategic Planning
Home Depot Buys Back HD Supply; MRO Distributors Get Squeezed
Home Depot pays a 25% premium for an enterprise value of $8 billion to reacquire HD Supply, putting branch-based distributors square in the middle of the Devil and the Deep Orange Apron.
The Minefields of Building Companies through Acquisition
A study of both successful and disastrous consolidations finds 10 common mistakes that drive employee misunderstanding and mistrust after the deal.
Want to Succeed with Industrial Vending? Stop Making These 5 Mistakes
Read about five common mistakes distributors make when considering and offering vending and inventory control solutions, and how to overcome them.
Digital or Die: The Time is Nigh for Distributors to Embrace eBusiness
The gates are closing. It’s now or never for digital adoption in B2B markets. The sharp increase in online engagement with customers in March and April 2020 was more than just a one-off blip due to COVID-19. More and more surveys are emerging that are reinforcing the idea that while COVID-19 spurred the shift to…
Why Distributors Can’t Innovate – and How You Can Start
Distributors are learning how to build cultures that drive innovation; don’t wait. The disruptors are at the gate and the battle for distribution supremacy will likely go to the swift and not the strong.
Is ‘Fulfillment by Amazon’ the Beginning of the End for Distributors?
Distributors worry that Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is assuming key distributor roles and erasing them from the equation. The service picks, packs, ships and even manages returns for retailers and distributors, as well as holds inventory in Amazon fulfillment centers.
Wholesale Change Show: Does “Fulfillment by Amazon” Mean the Death of Distributors? (June 24, 2020)
If Amazon Business owns the customer, warehouses your products, does the picking, packing and shipping and handles the entire transaction – why do they need you?
The Foundation for a Solid B2B Digital Strategy: Understanding Your Customers
Digital transformation has been a part of distributors’ language for many years. But the speed of transformation has varied: It’s hard, takes significant resources and in some instances, hasn’t been spurred by overwhelming customer demand.
Grainger Disinvests in Europe as Amazon Business Expands: What This Means for the Industry
It’s fair to question whether these events are correlated or it’s just a coincidence that Amazon Business is (apparently) thriving in various international markets while Grainger is not.