Distributors entered 2022 amidst a bullish and relatively rosy outlook. Having weathered many of the economic and supply chain crises brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, most signs point to opportunities for companies to recover and thrive in the new year. (Fourth-quarter financial results from 2021 suggest that recovering and thriving is already well underway.) […]
Category: Featured Blog
Job Creation Soars as Key Construction and Manufacturing Indicators Rise
The U.S. economy created 678,000 jobs in February, beating economists’ expectations for a second straight month as the unemployment rate dropped to 3.8%. Job growth happened across a variety of sectors, including construction. “Construction added 60,000 jobs in February, following little change in the prior month,” the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Friday. “About three-fourths […]
2022 Grainger Show Meets Live in Orlando
Orlando was the site for what has become to many a brave experiment: a return to a large, live, in-person conference. The 2022 Grainger Show was packed with approximately 8,500 attendees ready to interact in person at the Orlando Convention Center this week. The spirit was warm, convivial and steeped in thought leadership. The Grainger […]
Global Industrial Outlines 2022 Strategy Focus
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 […]
February 2022 M&A Roundup: Sonepar-Nautic Deal Closes out Month
The sheer number of merger-and-acquisition announcements in the distribution industry dropped off slightly in February, but there were still more than a few deals that will likely have impacts across multiple sectors. Private equity firm Nautic Partners, LLC says it has reached a definitive agreement with the Sonepar Group to acquire Vallen Distribution, a company […]
Sonepar to Sell Vallen to Nautic Partners
Private equity firm Nautic Partners, LLC has reached a deal with the Sonepar Group to acquire Vallen Distribution, a company that provides supply chain solutions and services. The acquisition is happening in partnership with Vallen management. Nautic said the sale is anticipated to close “as soon as possible,” following regulatory approval. Financial details were not […]
2022 Forecast Remains Strong Despite Inflation
The MDM Monthly Wholesale Forecast was little changed in January as the overall economic outlook for the wholesale distribution industry remains strong for 2022. These mostly positive indicators are happening partially because of inflation rates at 40-year highs. “Last month we were at 9.9% for the 2022 overall forecast, and now we’re at 10.9%,” says […]
How Pricing and Inventory Are Shaping 2022
“Inventory, inventory, inventory.” When I asked epaCube Vice President John Gunderson in our latest podcast what he’s hearing on how 2022 is shaping up, he didn’t hesitate with that answer. “I think the inventory issues are going to straighten out a little bit this year,” he said. “A lot of our partners and clients were […]
4 Ways to Strengthen Sales Analytics
When it comes to sales processes and market planning, distributors are seeing many crosscurrents and riptides across different sectors. Leveraging analytics can improve distributors’ market planning ability and give them opportunities to move actionable data to their front lines. (MDM’s analytics experts Bob Jordan and Donnie Williamson pointed this out during a recent webcast.) With […]
8 Questions Distributors Should Answer Before Building an E-commerce Site
Everything starts with what your customers need and want. Unfortunately, distributors’ buyers aren’t as simple to market to as B2C customers. For example, many industrial buyers move from project to project and need new solutions every few months. In contrast, others may manage inventories that carry the same items and frequently need to replenish their […]
8 Questions Every Distributor Should Answer Before Building an E-commerce Site
Everything starts with what your customers need and want. Unfortunately, distributors’ buyers aren’t as simple to market to as B2C customers. For example, many industrial buyers move from project to project and need new solutions every few months. In contrast, others may manage inventories that carry the same items and frequently need to replenish their […]
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 […]
White Cup Exec Outlines KPIs to Improve Customer Approach, Grow Margins
The wholesale trade industry experienced an impressive 2021 in the shadow of lingering disruptions caused by supply chain issues and the protracted COVID-19 pandemic. Despite those headaches, the industry pulled in more than $7 trillion dollars in revenues — a 22% increase over the prior year — as 2021 ended an exceptional demand year for […]
Wholesale Trade Has Record Year: $7.1 Trillion in Sales, 22% Above 2020
Wholesale trade experienced more than $7.1 trillion in sales in 2021, a greater than 22% increase over 2020 when the industry recorded just over $5.8 trillion in revenues, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday. It was a record year for the industry, also besting the last pre-pandemic year of 2019, which saw roughly $6.1 trillion […]
Wholesale Trade’s Record Year: Sales Increase 22% to $7.1 Trillion
Wholesale trade experienced more than $7.1 trillion in sales in 2021, a greater than 22% increase over 2020 when the industry recorded just over $5.8 trillion in revenues, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Thursday. It was a record year for the industry, also besting the last pre-pandemic year of 2019, which saw roughly $6.1 trillion […]
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 […]
What Labor Shortage? Technology-Enabled Sales Teams Don’t Miss a Beat
Lately, distributors tend to have less trouble finding leads than the manpower to capture them. For the fourth quarter of 2021, 65% of business economists reported an increase in sales, but 57% reported experiencing labor shortages, according to the National Association for Business Economics January 2022 Business Conditions Survey. Why this imbalance? The Washington Post […]
Distributor Finance 2.0: The Hottest Feature of B2B Marketplaces
Applico, the digital platform consultancy, continues to see record fundraising numbers for B2B marketplaces due to its high growth metrics — with $1 billion in VC investment raised in 2021 for just the Top 3 B2B marketplaces. Applico’s ranking of the top 50 B2B marketplaces received a great deal of interest in 2021, and our […]
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 […]
January 2022 M&A Roundup: One Billion-Dollar Deal Finalized as Another Takes Off
January was a relatively light month for mergers and acquisitions in the distribution industry, but two billion-dollar deals stood out among the month’s highlights. Owens & Minor Inc. — a product manufacturing, distribution support and innovative technology services company — agreed to acquire integrated home health care equipment provider Apria for $37.50 in cash per […]
