Overall supply chains for food and grocery products are in good shape at this stage of the coronavirus pandemic, but paper products are "going to continue to be short, probably through the first part of calendar '21," United Natural Foods CEO Steven Spinner says. He adds that UNFI will continue donating to food banks and "ensuring that affordable food is available, especially to the communities that need it the most."

Alibaba recently invested nearly $1 billion in Chinese logistics business YTO to increase its stake from 10.5% to 22.5%. The companies are collaborating on delivery, air freight, supply chains and related logistics issues as they work to expand globally, according to YTO.

Nearly all business-to-business financial departments in a study by financial technology and services provider MSTS said they do manual invoicing and billing at least some of the time, which contributes to billing disputes, errors and late payments. The pandemic is leading more B2B companies to adopt digital methods that can alleviate these problems, MSTS President Brandon Spear says.

Content and user experience should be distributors' top concerns when redesigning company websites, writes Lindsay Young, president of 3 Aspens Media. She recommends performing an SEO audit to see how a current website is appearing in search results, making sure online content represents the value a company provides offline and thinking about knowledge ahead of product.

Elite sales negotiators always set the pace of negotiations and are willing to walk away if a deal is not in their company's best interest, writes Mike Schultz. Top performers are also more likely to make trades with buyers than to simply cave on price issues, Schultz writes.

The pandemic has forced many distributors to adopt models that combine virtual and outside sales, and artificial intelligence can help outside salespeople succeed in this new reality, writes Proton founder Benj Cohen. AI-based customer data platforms "will not just enhance remote-selling capabilities, they will also dramatically reduce time spent on planning, travel and administrative work," he writes.

Several strategies for delivering bad news can help it be better received, executive consultant Amii Barnard-Bahn writes. She urges bad news bearers to warn people it's coming, practice the delivery and explain without justifying.

Scenario thinking, using four visions of a post-crisis future, can help companies weather the pandemic and other substantial difficulties, write Deloitte's Andrew Blau and Lauren Lubetsky. "Another benefit of good scenarios is how they can illuminate critical choices that may lie ahead and allow leaders to think through the implications of today's action over time," they write.

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In his blog post, NAW Institute for Distribution Excellence Fellow Mike Marks writes, "...a board has three core responsibilities to shareholders: ensure there is a strategy in place that will create long-term growth in shareholder value; ensure the right people are in the right seats (CEO and direct reports); and ensure that the executive team is making adequate progress on achieving the strategy.” He then offered the three things an effective board should never do. Read his post.

In observance of Labor Day in the US, SmartBrief will not publish Monday. Publication will resume Tuesday.