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
Insights
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
Return to Basics Can Drive Sales
Recently Prokeep developed a sales playbook white paper for B2B distributors that is a great reminder of the sales basics that inevitably every salesperson, sales manager, branch manager and marketing department … forget. Companies, managers, and individuals forget because everyone is too busy supporting “the” customer, “the” opportunity, developing “the” next new marketing … [Read more...] about Return to Basics Can Drive Sales
What Industrial end customer trends are crucial for 2025?
In 2015 when I was on the HD Supply distribution team, I started some research with the goal of getting feedback to make better pricing decisions with direct surveys for our associates. We were roughly a $2 billion dollar business trying to improve our GM% and profits. Over the past ten years that survey has grown in size and scope to include end customers, distributor … [Read more...] about What Industrial end customer trends are crucial for 2025?
10 Technology Trends for Industrial Distributors in 2025
Technology is an ever-growing element of improving customer experience and corporate profitability for a distributor. The days of only having an ERP and the equivalent of MS Office on a server are gone. Nowadays every function within the business benefits from technology and essentially there is now “an app for that” inferring if you can conceive it, there is technology that … [Read more...] about 10 Technology Trends for Industrial Distributors in 2025
Inventory Positions could be the top growth driver for industrial distribution in 2025
Managing your inventory is the key to drive top-line sales and gross margin performance in 2025 – In a recent discussion with Brent Johnstone from ACTvantage we talked about how industrial distributors can increase gross margin without hurting top-line sales in 2025. When we both started into distribution, the prevailing thought for distributors and manufacturers in the B2B … [Read more...] about Inventory Positions could be the top growth driver for industrial distribution in 2025
Is your experienced associate led pricing model approaching a cliff?
If your winning pricing model is still being led by just your experienced sales team, it is probably time to make changes for the future. I had the opportunity to sit in on an excellent Pricing certification session that kicked off recently with my friends and colleagues leading the session from ACTvantage: Senthil Gunasekaran and Pradip Krishnadevarajan. Senthil and Pradip … [Read more...] about Is your experienced associate led pricing model approaching a cliff?
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
Building and Keeping a Winning Culture Through Leadership
The famous Peter Drucker said "culture eats strategy for breakfast." The one thing he didn't say, but inferred, is that culture stems from great leadership. In a time where seemingly everyone is running faster than ever and, for much of your staff, 2024 may have been a grind, a strong culture that is reinforced by appreciative leadership, is critical. Consider today's … [Read more...] about Building and Keeping a Winning Culture Through Leadership
