United Natural Foods on Wednesday reported fiscal third-quarter profit of $88.1 million on sales of $6.67 billion, both increasing from the year-ago period. The company said the coronavirus pandemic contributed to higher demand.

MSC Industrial Supply's preliminary, unaudited May sales figure of $269.6 million is up 6.3% from a year earlier, "driven by the fulfillment of the large safety and janitorial backlog that had built in prior months," the company said.

The Indian River Consulting Group's Pandemic Revenue Index of 10 distributors showed a 1.4% year-over-year sales decline for the week of June 1. "The distributors that seem to be suffering the greatest losses are those whose customers are unlikely to be considered essential businesses, per state and local definitions, and those more focused on maintenance repair and operations (MRO) markets," Mike Emerson writes.

Manufacturers need to watch for anomalies in work logs and curb access to sensitive information while more employees are working remotely during and after the coronavirus pandemic, according to reports by Digital Guardian and Bitglass. "[T]hese security solutions must be built upon architectures that ensure rapid deployments, minimal maintenance, high performance, and a seamless user experience that helps employees to remain productive and nimble," says Bitglass executive Anurag Kahol.

Omnichannel marketing has become even more important as the pandemic has accelerated a shift toward digital, writes Anvil Media's Kent Lewis, who explains how the strategy differs from multichannel marketing and offers statistics proving its efficacy. Lewis outlines six best practices for implementing an omnichannel marketing strategy to create a seamless buying experience.

As 5G technology gains momentum among providers and consumers, marketers are looking toward the advancement as an opportunity to glean vast amounts of data that can be useful for targeting, personalization and experience management, says SAP Chief Marketing Officer Alicia Tillman. She urges marketers to "think about how to use data to the advantage of the customer" while being mindful of privacy issues.

It takes time away from the day-to-day work to cultivate strategic thinking, which is in short supply these days without vacations and breaks from the coronavirus, says Aytekin Tank, founder of JotForm. It might even come down to blocking off an hour to think about the long-term vision for your company or life, even though this process "is essential, but it's not always comfortable," Tank writes.

Showing vulnerability can be uncomfortable, but Merilee Kern of The Ascendant Group outlines the benefits of doing so. It's a courageous step that can galvanize a team behind you and make you more approachable as a leader, Kern writes.

Did you miss the May 28 webinar with Alan Beaulieu: "Distribution Post COVID-19 Outlook"? If yes, then you have until 5 p.m. ET, on Friday, June 12, to join the hundreds who benefited from Alan's forecast for the short-, mid- and long-term. Purchase today to receive the webinar recording and slide deck, and watch on demand at your convenience!

Subscribe to the new NAW Podcast Series: INNOVATE TO DOMINATE, sponsored by PROS so you don't miss a single episode. In episode 1, listeners will learn about INNOVATE TO DOMINATE and what it means in the context of COVID-19. This podcast series is centered around the findings in NAW's "Innovate to Dominate: The 12th Edition in the Facing the Forces of Change Series," which helps distributors connect the dots between the forces of change, the things that are reshaping how customers buy, and how businesses operate.