This month has been an interesting one as a content provider for the Industrial Channel and keeping up with the Tariff news has been a daily occurrence. We published a column in our sister ElectricalTrends.com publication this week that we wanted to share with our Industrial Supply Trends Readers. There are some tariffs we know (China, imported steel and aluminum) and then … [Read more...] about Copper, Steel, China and More About Tariffs
More Insights
Fastenal Investor Day Insights – Opinion
Fastenal Investor Day Slide - March 13, 2025 One of the biggest stories I have been writing about this past year has been on Business transformation, and on the very large end of the distribution demographic landscape, perhaps no company exemplifies long-term, wholesale change than Fastenal. Yesterday on March 13th Fastenal held a close to 6-hour Investor Day presentation … [Read more...] about Fastenal Investor Day Insights – Opinion
Pricing on Your Industrial Website
Warning … there are solutions to help you break through paralysis! We wanted to share this article and add takeways and comments. Dimtry Kon founder of Access Development Solutions who helps Channel Marketing Group Trends publications with our ecommerce initiatives and content at CMG. The Online Pricing Challenge It’s fascinating to watch distributors tackle digital … [Read more...] about Pricing on Your Industrial Website
MSC Industrial Series Parts 2 & 3 Overview
In our distributor series in collaboration with Modern Distribution Management we covered the "big" changes a leading distributor - MSC Industrial has been making to continue their journey from a "spot buy" distributor to a "Mission Critical" distributor. In Part 2 and Part 3 of the series we dove deep in MSC's digital programs and mission critical initiatives. Behind MSC’s … [Read more...] about MSC Industrial Series Parts 2 & 3 Overview
Opinion: Industrial Tariff talk – Tips on how to prepare for wherever the market goes
This month has been an interesting one as a content provider for the Industrial Channel. We have been writing, crossing out, rewriting on the impact of tariff battles between the US, Canada, Mexico and China. We had a number of articles ready to publish then had to hit the stop button to react to another announced change. We have tariffs go from the "Let's get ready to … [Read more...] about Opinion: Industrial Tariff talk – Tips on how to prepare for wherever the market goes
Industrial Distributor: Year End Performance 2024 – AD, Fastenal and Grainger
Over the past few weeks, a number of national distributors have released their 2024 performance and earnings reports. AD, Grainger, Fastenal and others have made news. We've also talked to a number of manufacturers who see the "highlight" numbers and use them as benchmarks, so we've reviewed and sought to find some trends. Overall, business is improving or stable depending on … [Read more...] about Industrial Distributor: Year End Performance 2024 – AD, Fastenal and Grainger
Opinion: Grainger Q4 and Year End Results…..Interesting
It's Q4 earning season, providing distributors (and manufacturers) with an opportunity to benchmark their performance, gain insights (or confirmation) on what they are seeing in the market and possibly learn a little from publicly held companies. Grainger just released their Q4 and Full year results for 2024 which is always interesting to dive deep into their … [Read more...] about Opinion: Grainger Q4 and Year End Results…..Interesting
MSC Industrial’s Big Pricing Reset is big news for Industrial Distribution
In Part 1 of the series and collaboration with Modern Distribution Management we covered the "big" changes a leading distributor - MSC Industrial is making to their pricing model. The latest distributor series I have written with MDM starts with a deep dive into MSC's pricing changes. After a somewhat challenging 2024, the metalworking and MRO supplies distributor continues to … [Read more...] about MSC Industrial’s Big Pricing Reset is big news for Industrial Distribution
Launching New Products Effectively
Channel Marketing Group's Gene Biben, with over 40 years' experience in helping manufacturers generate demand for new products, recently shared some thoughts on effectively launching new products and a major flaw in many manufacturers' product launch strategy ... not properly funding the launch strategy with an appropriate sales investment. He uses an experience he had in … [Read more...] about Launching New Products Effectively
Embrace Change to Adopt AI and Improve Profits in the Industrial Channel
The concept of digital transformation, let alone AI, as a future driver for your organization is probably a folly unless … You have a leader, and leadership team, which believes in change. There are two key words in the above sentence … “leadership” and “change.” Leadership infers vision, an ability to perceive “need,” an entrepreneurial mentality that desires growth, … [Read more...] about Embrace Change to Adopt AI and Improve Profits in the Industrial Channel
