How can distributors – small and large – continue to differentiate in an increasingly crowded marketplace?
This latest business cycle has triggered a new wave of consolidation, new market share strategies and new partnerships.
I got a lot of feedback after I wrote about big data in the last issue. My main point was how companies have to manage a transition from transactional to strategic when it comes to their data management.
A few readers thought I was making a bigger deal of it than necessary in the most promising business climate in five years: “We’re ahead of where we were before the recession, much earlier than expected… our problems, thankfully, are growth problems again. Our real challenge right now is service levels.” That’s great news on the growth part!
But I would also recommend considering …
But these distributors need to ask the right questions.
How strategic information helped the building materials distributor stay on track with growth initiatives.
Managing today’s economic volatility may require some changes in how distributors look at their processes.
Distributors must increase their profitability range and market data can help.
The concept of using data to become more responsive is attractive, but there’s a major reality gap.
Sales and marketing is the final frontier in wholesale distribution for process improvement.
Mobile technologies are exploding. Here are a few statistics, courtesy of the Pew Research Center’ Internet & American Life Project’s most recent survey at www.pewinternet.org:
Successful suppliers will be those who radically differentiate their service offerings and relationships with customers.
Distribution companies need to tap into their profit potential.
At last week’s annual meeting of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW), the mood was positive and attendance was up by a healthy margin.
Most of this you might expect given the shift in economic news in the past four to six weeks. In fact, the recent economic statistics released only validate what distributors are always the first to see on the front lines of our North American economy. When nearly one-third of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) transactions flows through wholesale distribution, it is …
Demand is growing for tools that parse market data.
It has been a valuable lesson for my company in what longtime sales and marketing consultant Peg Fisher called a “moment of truth.” In one of her many articles in MDM, she outlined how customer service consists of a series of ‘moments of truth’ customers experience with your company. Every person has the ability to make a positive impact on customer relations. This includes the way the telephone is answered, the use of voicemail, email, error-free orders, accurate billings, realistic promises made and kept, the integrity of information provided, and extends to vendors who directly or indirectly touch the customer…..
The winds finally shifted this holiday season. There were promising signs in the last quarter, but the most positive economic news in years came with the New Year. Domestic auto sales are stronger, the Purchasing Managers Index turned around, and there are signs of hope for construction markets that have been bumping along the bottom for years.
Anecdotally, many distributors ended 2011 with …
Thank you for your readership in the past year.
An article in the Dec. 10, 2011, issue by distribution consultant Bill McCleave expands on research Bill and I did 10 years ago on the key elements that define the customer’s total value perception of a distribution company. Bill does a great job of updating our research with some additional dimensions he has identified as critical to gaining competitive advantage in today’s markets.
At the risk of patting ourselves on the back, our research and the 10 case studies of innovative distributors we used to illustrate the concepts in our 2003 book, Stand Out From the Competition, have stood the test of time p
Planning, analytics and talent are critical areas for development in the new year.
The wholesale distribution industry grew faster than the U.S. economy in 2010.
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