US port cargo volumes remain well below 2022 highs | Central US manufacturing activity flat, but production jumps | Ace Hardware keeps building on stores' success
Cargo volume at most ports remained depressed in July compared to record highs in 2022, with the largest drops seen at the Port of Long Beach and Port of Los Angeles, which saw 26.4% and 25.8% year-over-year declines, respectively. The Port of Oakland was one of few ports bucking the trend with a 16.8% increase in volume compared to the year-ago period.
Central US manufacturing activity remained flat in August compared with July, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. The production index helped buoy the overall figure, jumping to 12 from -20 a month earlier, while shipments increased and the contraction of new orders slowed. Expectations for future activity increased, with the six-month composite index increasing to 2 from -2.
Ace Hardware has opened 1,100 new stores over the past half decade as new operators signed on, existing investors added new locations and rival retailers converted to the Ace banner, President and CEO John Venhuizen said. Operators added have 100 new stores thus far this year, with an additional 170 planned by the end of 2023.
Two Walmart Superstores in the Dallas-Fort Worth area will join 11 of the retailer's other locations in the region in offering drone delivery through Alphabet-owned Wing. Customers in about 60,000 homes in a 6-mile radius of the stores can expect 30-minute delivery between 10:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. every day except Wednesday.
Pricing overrides are a common and costly problem, eating into distributors' bottom line and creating pricing management problems and market inconsistencies, writes David Bauders, CEO of SPARXiQ. Bauders suggests companies get their system pricing right, offer negotiation training to sales teams, implement enterprise resource planning pricing controls and incentivize adherence to system pricing.
FTR's Trucking Conditions Index dropped from -3.75 in May to -6.29 in June, which marks its lowest rate since November. FTR says "for-hire trucking companies have already faced the longest period of consistently unfavorable market conditions since the Great Recession" and it doesn't expect any TCI reading improvements until early next year.
Connecting otherwise isolated procurement aspects -- such as inventory management, contingency planning, supply chain visibility and finding reliable suppliers -- can help the supply chain work more holistically, Robert Parker of DP World writes. Parker suggests solutions to five common challenges in the manufacturing supply chain.
Increasing social media spending is now part of the 2023 plan for 51% of brand and agency media decision-makers, up from 44% in April, per Advertiser Perceptions research, which attributes the shift to improving return on investment. Connected TV was top category, with 54% of those surveyed planning to increase investments.
Sales leaders must be both strategic about short-term issues and tactical about the future, sales consultant David Brock writes. Using only a narrow, monthly goals focus "we will never capture the opportunity we should, we will never create the value our customers need, and we will never disrupt our markets seizing share from our competitors," Brock asserts.
With global inflation easing substantially this year without yet causing a significant economic downturn, monetary policymakers are shifting their focus to how to finish the job. After imposing some of the most aggressive interest rate-hike cycles ever, central banks must now examine how long rates should stay high to get inflation within target. "When inflation is falling but unemployment is stable or falling, the [Federal Reserve] can't be sure that its policies are effective," said Steve Englander, Standard Chartered's head of G10 currency research. "It may just be lucky that a global demand slump or non-policy related domestic forces are driving inflation lower."
Industry professionals expect generative AI will have a transformative effect on their professions over the next five years, according to a new Thomson Reuters report that surveyed over 1,200 individuals in legal, tax and accounting, compliance and other fields to gain insights into the potential impacts of AI, tech and automation. Two-thirds of respondents believe that AI will have a transformational or high impact on their profession, with nearly half hoping for improved productivity and efficiency.
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