Systemax's Global Industrial business has adopted the tagline "We Can Supply That," while on the operations side, the unit has improved its e-commerce experience and engagement while adjusting product lines. "Now that the pandemic hit and we're still in it, we find that using the online channel is very effective," Systemax CEO Barry Litwin says.

Over 85% of all industrial real estate leasing activity in 2020 was in the logistics sector, and total leases for the year set a record of 659 million square feet, according to Cushman & Wakefield. The real estate services company said tight space availability led to rising rents, with an average rent increase of 5.6% for warehouse and distribution properties.

Ports in Southern California are grappling with rising dockworker illnesses and surging imports, which have led to a backlog of ships awaiting available docks and slowed the delivery of goods to retailers. "The Americans that have not been impacted by COVID will continue to spend, and the surge could go on through late spring," said Mario Cordero, the Port of Long Beach's executive director.

This infographic from LinkedIn displays how to implement five business-to-business customer engagement strategies recommended by LinkedIn's Tusar Barik and Edelman's Joe Kingsbury. The visual covers long-term brand positioning, understanding your customer's customers, aligning marketing and sales, centering efforts around the customer journey, and fostering trust through thought leadership.

Walker Sands' Erin Jordan Spanski outlines three ways business-to-business marketers can maximize budgets this year. She recommends investing in brand-building, optimizing martech to boost personalization, and identifying and prioritizing the highest-performing channels.

Quick staff meetings at the beginning of each workday can create focus, purpose and an understanding of everyone's challenges and successes, writes Naphtali Hoff. He offers six rules for leaders to create stand-ups that are productive, consistent and help employees provide "excellent service or care to their customers and clients."

In this capstone NAW webinar, "Strategic Change During Disruption: An Industry Response to Get Smarter, Faster and Stronger," on Jan. 21 at 2 p.m. Eastern, Ian Heller will summarize what he learned from the research conducted with distributors, suppliers and customers. He'll provide a roadmap forward: a specific set of recommendations on the strategic actions that the distribution industry -- and individual companies -- should take to fend off competitors, outflank disruptors and prepare to take market share and improve profitability. Sponsored by Unilog and PROS.

Don't miss NAW's first-ever Digital Summit, Jan. 27-28, which attracts CEOs and senior leaders of leading wholesale distribution companies. First-time attendees will have the chance to hear from industry leaders and experts and discuss topics relevant to their business, including learning from distribution CEOs on our "Leading in a Time of Transition" panel as well as having opportunities for peer-to-peer networking and idea exchange. Use NAW's special 5- and 10-pack registrations to bring your team! Register today!

SPARXiQ CEO David Bauders says, "Sadly, for many distributors, sales planning has historically been anecdotal, intuitive and virtually data-free. Aside from knowing what a customer (or group of customers) bought last year, and then guessing at how that might change this year, there is painfully little insight to identify, organize, drive and measure the daily activities that actually accelerate profitable, organic growth." Read his post.