Global Industrial has been on a repositioning journey over the past five-plus years. It divested international technology distribution operations to focus on its North American industrial business, rebranded under the Global Industrial name, and has driven a hybrid sales model of direct sales supported by a digital and multi-platform marketing platform. So it was good […]
Tom Gale
The Power of Analytics for Distributors
Analytics is one of the core areas of best-practice distribution management that MDM has championed for decades (and have supported industrial products marketers through our MDM Analytics offerings). If you’re looking to create a more data-informed organization — and who isn’t today? — then I’m excited to share my conversation with Tony Pericle, CEO and […]
New Podcast: Inside the Motion Industries-Kaman Distribution Group Acquisition
In a blockbuster deal that shifts the competitive landscape beyond their core product sectors, Motion Industries announced in December that it was acquiring Kaman Distribution Group for $1.3 billion. I wrote a “behind-the-deal” analysis shortly after that announcement, and the deal closed at the beginning of January. In this week’s MDM Podcast, Motion Industries President […]
Collaboration Will Define Competitive Advantage
At the MDM Digital Distributor Summit in 2019, AgoNow CEO Larry Davis gave a presentation on digitizing your customer journey. He cited a number of research sources documenting the digital migration of industrial customers in their buying processes — and this was prior to the sea change of 2022! So it was a good time […]
Modernizing Channel Relationships: There’s an App for That
An increasing number of digital platforms are emerging across distribution verticals, each with a unique value proposition. One example is a start-up called Factrees, which last month emerged from stealth mode with an AI-powered platform intended to digitally transform and modernize how business partners connect on the selling side in the construction products channel. In […]
The Argument for a Small Distributor Renaissance
“The higher-tech we get, the more we lose high touch.” That’s one of three reasons why Al Bates, principal of Distribution Performance Project and dean of financial performance benchmarking, sees opportunities emerging for smaller independent distributors in the current business cycle. (Listen to the podcast with the player below). The challenge, he says of these […]
Behind the Deal: How the Motion-KDG Deal Changes the Landscape
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U.S. Distributors on Pace for Record $7-trillion Year in 2021
The U.S. wholesale trade sector is on pace to finish above $7 trillion in 2021 for the first time, based on MDM forecasts and data through the third quarter. That represents a 21% increase above 2020 revenues of $5.8 trillion, which were down 4.3% from the year before. The record boost represents actual revenues, not […]
What the Infrastructure Bill Means for Distributors
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Forecasts Mostly Bullish for 4Q and 2022
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8 Third-Quarter Economic Indicators Impacting Distribution
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Fighting for Customer Loyalty in 2022
As we move through the final quarter of this year, there’s a crazy mix of positive and negative signals. While continued growth is forecast, markets have never been in such flux as inflation, supply chain and talent issues challenge distributors to keep customers close and happy. Every disruptive business cycle produces an increase in churn […]
We’re Changing Our Operating System to Improve
Our team is taking some lessons to heart through the disruption, challenges and opportunities the past 18 months have presented to each of us. And we see a lot of opportunity to improve what we do and how we do it going forward, just as we’ve reported in the pages of MDM Premium of how […]
Commentary: We’re Changing Our Operating System to Improve
To continue reading this article you must be a paid subscriber. Subscribe to MDM Already Subscribed? Click here to log-in | Forgot your password? Our team is taking some lessons to heart through the disruption, challenges and opportunities the past 18 months have presented to each of us. And we see a lot of opportunity to […]
Commentary: Don’t Let Conventional Wisdom Hurt Your Customer Relationships
To continue reading this article you must be a paid subscriber. Subscribe to MDM Already Subscribed? Click here to log-in | Forgot your password? Earlier this year, MDM lead a research project where we surveyed a few thousand customers of distributors to measure how the pandemic has changed the way these customers want to interact […]
Linear to 3D: How Digital Changes Everything for Distributors
I keep hearing that digital has accelerated everything in the past 15 months. But that’s one of those 100,000-foot throwaway comments that doesn’t necessarily inform better decision-making or meaningful change in behavior. Here’s why. Halfway through 2021, the theme is recovery and stabilization with an asterisk. The term is relative. With major supply chain issues […]
What’s Your Hybrid Customer Engagement Strategy?
How do your customers perceive your value proposition? And, what is the relationship of that perception to the ways you are leveraging technology? I pose these questions because MDM recently asked 1,500 distributor customers how they want to engage with their suppliers and got some very clear answers. In most cases, customers have already gone […]
What’s Your Pandemic Transition Plan?
What a difference a year breaks … because the past 12 months have broken nearly every framework and most rules that leaders of distribution companies have learned over their entire careers. What the pandemic did not break was the core value of distribution; in fact, it proved out just how adaptive distributors can be when faced with incredibly complex challenges. […]
What Got You Here Won’t Get You There
If you hit the “snooze” button on the pandemic alarm 12 months ago as far as working on your core business model, the alarm just went off again. The news this week that Amazon Business 2020 revenues were $25 billion was not shocking or unexpected. That they openly announced it was. From my perspective, it’s […]
Commentary: What Got You Here Won’t Get You There
To continue reading this article you must be a paid subscriber. Subscribe to MDM Already Subscribed? Click here to log-in | Forgot your password? If you hit the “snooze” button on the pandemic alarm 12 months ago as far as working on your core business model, the alarm just went off again. The news this […]
