SpartanNash has appointed former Borden Dairy CEO Tony Sarsam as president and CEO, starting Sept. 21. Interim President and CEO Dennis Eidson will remain chairman and be executive chairman during the transition.

Walmart and medical drone delivery business Zipline have formed a partnership to deliver health-related products and, potentially, general merchandise. Walmart is also working with drone company Flytrex, while Amazon is planning to use its Prime Air drones for delivery.

Amazon will expand its global workforce by around 10% with the addition of 100,000 logistics and fulfillment center employees in the US and Canada, the company said Monday. Amazon also said it will open 100 more operations facilities this month.

Distributors can save money and improve customer relationships by reducing the need for product returns, write Ian Heller, Jonathan Bein and Jason Capshaw. They recommend identifying the reasons for returns, providing accurate and complete product information online and giving customers live chat options and delivery information.

Zoom is enhancing its security with two-factor authentication for logging in, which could include a combination of a password or PIN with a mobile device, voice activation or fingerprint. The feature became available in recent days but may need to be enabled by an account administrator.

The "first principle" of business-to-business sales is that customers get to define what value looks like, Paul Reilly writes. Keep this in mind, for example, when a customer objects to pricing.

Webinars are a highly effective tactic for generating business-to-business leads, writes Josh Brown, who provides a comprehensive guide to creating a webinar marketing strategy. Brown advises on topic identification, webinar goals, formats, script writing, promotion via social media, and creating a superior experience.

The Eisenhower Matrix helps people sort out what's truly "urgent and important" in their work, but this can go awry when people refuse to prioritize or give up lower-urgency tasks. This article explores three ways to reimagine the two-by-two matrix, as well as how to address problems with setting priorities.

Business growth strategist Cindy Constable explains four ways to be a more effective communicator, which can ease anxiety within your team. Focus on keeping the message simple, delivering news early and often, finding ways to help stakeholders understand complicated issues, and remembering that the words you choose make a difference.

The pandemic is forcing many distributors to reevaluate their supply chains to create more resilient models. At the heart of "Optimizing Channel Profitability" is a common ground for distributors and manufacturers to focus on making a one-to-one connection among a supplier's channel compensation, a distributor's capabilities and customer value, all leading to a process where all three entities can have constructive, objective dialogue rather than subjective, selective fault-finding. If you're looking to strengthen your value proposition post COVID-19, this resource will help.

Guest blogger Benj Cohen writes, "There are a lot of reasons for distributors to adopt AI. As I explain in previous posts, the technology can help inside and outside sales reps sell more, transform customer service branches into revenue drivers and boost e-commerce performance by double-digit percentage points. At this point, the real question for distributors is not if they should adopt AI, but when." Read his post.

Are you ready for the technology that is transforming distribution? With the influx of new competitors and new technologies, changes are happening at warp speed. In this NAW series of seven research reports and seven accompanying webinars in seven months, distribution expert Ian Heller will help you to gain the intelligence you need to formulate new strategies and ensure that your company thrives through this era of technology transformation. You've got seven months, so let's get started. Sponsors include Unilog, SAP, Conexiom and Mirakl.