Indian River Consulting Group's Pandemic Revenue Index of 12 distributors increased by 4.9% the week of Sept. 14 to 18. "Normalizing for average daily sales, this week's increase makes six consecutive weeks of increases," IRCG said.

Chicago Public Schools programs will benefit this school year from 1.7 million disposable and reusable face coverings donated by Grainger. The distributor's donation has already helped participants in the school district's Summer Return to Play offerings. Read more.

With the pandemic, QR codes are enjoying a renaissance, as are the scammers who employ them, finds a study by software-maker MobileIron. A survey of more than 2,000 consumers in the US and UK found that 7 in 10 could not distinguish between legitimate and fraudulent QR codes, while 17% had actually been directed to a malicious website.

Use a virtual happy hour or personalized videos to engage prospects while maintaining social distancing, advises Jackie Light. "Rather than putting relationship-building on hold, sellers should embrace the novelty of many of these unique experiences, and seek to be pioneers in how they choose to interact and foster relationships with their clients," Light writes.

Business-to-business marketers can follow this 12-step guide from Accenture Interactive's Jason Michaels to drive demand and engagement for virtual events. Michaels recommends combining live and on-demand content, providing content that can be easily shared by attendees on social and incorporating physical, tactile experiences via mailed conference kits.

Senior leaders can work directly with a struggling or overwhelmed manager, using daily or near-daily check-ins to offer support and uncover the key concerns or problems, writes Liz Kislik. Or, especially in larger organizations, executives can have managers and their teams share concerns and refocus on the mission with a short-term "operating plan that can be managed through a daily stand-up process," she writes.

Join NAW for today's 2 p.m. ET complimentary webinar: "How Distributor Customers Will Use Technologies From Their Suppliers and Who Is Winning"!. We promise a lively 60-minute conversation with Ian Heller and Jonathan Bein of Distribution Strategy Group as they dig into the research they conducted with distributor customers. How important is enhanced technology capability -- voice ordering, item identification ordering, 3D printing / additive manufacturing, AI-enabled business intelligence -- to your customers? Do you need to build a whole new set of technological capabilities to remain competitive?

What will be the impact of AI on distributor sales and operations? While AI hasn't transformed distribution yet, the change is coming soon. Integral to research being done by the NAW Institute is hearing directly from distributor executives. Will you please spare 5-10 minutes to help ensure that we get the most accurate data to inform this research? All individual answers will be kept confidential. In return for your time, we'll send you benchmark data on your AI readiness, and an AI opportunity analysis upon your request. Take the survey.

As an Emerge client for two plus years, International Wholesale's John Boji states, "Emerge has been a key resource for all our transportation needs here at International Wholesale. Not only have we saved time for everyone in the office, but we have brought down our freight costs at the same time. I recommend Emerge for any shipper that needs a portal to streamline their transportation needs." Read more about how NAW partner Emerge helps curb freight market volatility.