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The Institute for Supply Management provides a semiannual forecast that distributors can use to gauge the health and expectations of manufacturing and non-manufacturing industries. This article provides the highlights from the latest forecast, which was released at the end of May.
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The MDM Market Snapshot, based on data from MDM Analytics, includes market demand for Motor % Drive Controls in the U.S., plus the top end users by 6-digit NAICS.
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The MDM Market Snapshot, based on data from MDM Analytics, includes market demand for Industrial Valves in the U.S., plus the top end users by 6-digit NAICS.
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The 2017 Distribution Special Issue is the most comprehensive report on the wholesale distribution industry. This eighth edition was researched and written by MDM and is based on interviews with dozens of distributors, industry experts and manufacturers, as well as a survey of readers to uncover the most important issues facing distribution today.
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This article is part of MDM's 2017 Distribution Trends Special Issue.
While U.S. GDP growth in first quarter of 2017 was a tepid 1.2 percent, for many distributors, the new year marked a shift in outlook for the industry. But there’s also a shift in customer expectations, as highlighted by the trends examined in this issue.
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If it can't dominate an industry digitally, Amazon will buy the bricks and mortar to get there.
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This article is part of MDM's 2017 Distribution Trends Special Issue.
The distribution industry has seen a surge in discussions about leadership and culture. With an uneven economy, new threats of disruption and the continuation of a massive generational shift in distribution, exhibiting strong leadership is critical for any company that wants to prosper.
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This article is part of MDM's 2017 Distribution Trends Special Issue.
Distribution sales have traditionally been driven by outside salespeople who set their own course for how and where to sell in a given territory. But purchasing behaviors have changed, driven by technology and a generational shift, which means that sales models will need to change, as well, to capture and maintain business going forward.
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This article is part of MDM's 2017 Distribution Trends Special Issue.
There’s no escaping Amazon. Thanks to the company’s recent mammoth grocery store bid, even a trip to Whole Foods for organic marinara sauce or a bundle of kale could inflate Jeff Bezos’ already exorbitant income.
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This article is part of MDM's 2017 Distribution Trends Special Issue.
“Attitude is everything” is a phrase easily forgotten in the day-to day-hustle, but the “soft skills” that enable someone to interact effectively with other people continue to be more important than just a motivational catch phrase.
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This article is part of MDM's 2017 Distribution Trends Special Issue.
While data-sharing among distributors and their supply channel partners has been discussed for years, new technologies and skillsets have increased the usability of even more data. As a result, respondents to the recent MDM market trends survey noted an increase in requests for data-sharing up and down the supply chain.
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This article is part of MDM's 2017 Distribution Trends Special Issue.
The “era of the customer,” as many have labeled today’s business climate, means distributors are being asked to provide more services yet charge the same price, or sometimes less, for the products they sell. Response to customers’ new demands vary by company size, sector and geography, but all distributors agree that retaining business and growing market share while remaining profitable is critical for survival in today’s increasingly competitive landscape.
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This article is part of MDM's 2017 Distribution Trends Special Issue.
In 2017, MDM is recognizing distributors that are innovative in their approach to their markets. Virginia Beach, VA-based industrial distributor Incredible Supply & Logistics was founded in 2010 in Chris Faison’s garage. The company leveraged its logistics expertise to carve out a successful niche serving the government and defense contractors.
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MDM Editor Lindsay Konzak recently spoke with Mark Dancer of channel and sales solutions firm Channelvation Inc. about a recent growth in interest in using customer relationship management software to manage sales pipelines, leads and marketing programs. Used correctly, CRM can build brand and reinforce relationships, leading to improved sales and profits, he says.
This interview, from MDM’s monthly Executive Briefing on-demand webcast series, provides a look at the research Dancer conducted for his book on CRM published by the National Association of Wholesaler Distributors. Learn more about the book here. He also provides advice and insight on how to best use and implement CRM packages.
MDM: Why do you think CRM has a bad rap in distribution?
Mark Dancer: I would say that CRM has had a bad rap, not just in distribution, but in all industries for a very long time. It wasn’t that long ago, I would ask whether [a customer’s] CRM tool was a useful way to reinforce the strategies that we were trying to execute, and more often than not, CRM was more of a barrier or something to be avoided.
Fastenal is largely credited with driving the latest boom in industrial vending services among distributors. Fastenal had nearly 30,000 vending machines installed as of the end of the second quarter 2013, and while it recently backed off on its goal of 30,000 new vending machines this year, it continues to expand its program, called FAST Solutions, at a quick clip. Fastenal’s vending program has grown much faster than the competition’s.
This article is part of MDM’s series on the industrial vending market.
Staff Writer Angela Poulson spoke with Fastenal CEO Will Oberton about:
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Purchase the full MDM Special Report, The Industrial Vending Boom, in the MDM Store in PDF format.
The industry often talks about the importance of partnerships in the channel. But there's a lot of room for growth.
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Distributors are now driving record growth in industrial vending adoption among end-users. Even though vending has been around for a couple of decades in the industrial space, many say it still has a huge runway for growth. But as with any trend in its “infancy,” distributors looking to expand their vending services are faced with challenges, from initial investment to profitability to getting up-to-speed quickly on all available options to effectively respond to customer demands. This article examines key challenges identified by distributors and provides best practices for addressing them.
This article is part of MDM’s series on the industrial vending market.
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Purchase the full MDM Special Report, The Industrial Vending Boom, in the MDM Store in PDF format.
In his book Islands of Profit in a Sea of Red Ink, MIT Senior Lecturer Jonathan Byrnes says that most of a distributor’s customers are unprofitable while a few are so profitable that they more than subsidize those losses. In the recent MDM Webcast, How to Secure and Grow Your Islands of Profit Customers, Byrnes shares new tips for identifying and growing business with your most profitable customers and replicating that success with new customers.
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