2009 - Page 15 of 57 - Modern Distribution Management

2009

Pricing for Profitability

Implementing an effective pricing strategy can be one of the best ways to achieve better gross margin. This article outlines a pricing model developed by Texas A&M University’s Supply Chain Systems Laboratory and provides a look at how some distributors are using it to update their pricing strategy. About three years ago, F.W. Webb, a regional

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Home Improvement Industry Confidence Index Shows Current Conditions Worsening

Future Expectations Index improves to an all-time high.

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Commentary: Key Issues Emerge for 2010

I’m finally hearing a few themes emerging for this recovery as I attend meetings and talk with wholesale distribution and manufacturing executives. Consensus: At least until third quarter next year, businesses will be grinding for growth. Companies are still focused internally on cost reduction, but they are looking ahead more than they were two months ago and adjusting to this “new normal.” Six months ago slightly down looked OK. At least for now “flat” is the new up. There are a lot of mixed signals.

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Survey: Concern Over Economy High

Concern over the U.S. economy continues to be high among MDM readers, but more in a recent MDM survey expect the economy to be better than worse in the next six months.

Compared with one year ago, that’s an improvement. In the September 2008 survey of MDM readers, 28 percent expected the economy to grow worse; the September 2009 survey shows just 16.7 percent expect the economy to worsen. Most (47.5 percent) expect the economy to stay the same.

More than half are “very concerned” over the state of the economy, and a little more than a third are “concerned.”

Some respondents pointed to specific sectors: …

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MDM Interview: Legal Shifts Challenge HARDI Members

David McIlwaine, president of HVAC Distributors Inc., Mount Joy, PA, and Chrissy Nardini, president of American Metals Supply Co. Inc., Fenton, MO, recently spoke with MDM as part of an MDM interview series featuring association presidents. Nardini will replace McIlwaine as president of Heating, Airconditioning, & Refrigeration Distributors International at the association’s annual conference, “Turning Up the Heat on Recovery,” Nov. 1-4 in Orlando, FL.

MDM: This has been an interesting year. What are some of the issues that HARDI members have been dealing with over the last year?

David McIlwaine: Other than the general economic malaise, many of our members are tied to residential new construction markets. And in many areas, those markets collapsed 50 percent or 60 percent or more. That definitely provided challenges to our members.

In general as an industry, we’re going through the phase-out of the R22 refrigerant …

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MDM October 10, 2009

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