United Natural Foods has rolled out its new Community Marketplace site, which offers retailers the chance to directly order emerging products that may not be offered at the wholesaler's distribution centers. The Easy Options website, reported to be the nation's first digital wholesale market, is powered by the Mirakl Marketplace Platform and features access to 20,000 items.
UFP Industries is fostering management talent with a two-year business administration program that provides a bachelor's degree equivalent and opportunities for advancement. "Our long-term vision is to establish an education blueprint that other companies can adopt and integrate into their internal career advancement tool set," UFP Business School Dean Ann Baker says.
Manufacturing Digital Bootcamp for B2B Commerce Get hands-on tools and guidance to accelerate digital commerce for your manufacturing business. Register now
With suppliers across industries increasing prices in recent quarters, companies may face longer negotiations and should scrutinize invoices, writes Paul Stepanek, founder and president of Complete Manufacturing and Distribution. "Think hard about what the supplier means to your business and bottom line as you approach every price conversation, with thoughtful attention," he writes.
Artificial intelligence systems need to have quality data in order to work properly, and preparing that data takes time, writes Seth Earley, CEO of Earley Information Science. He adds that businesses need to allow time for AI training, take ownership of information and prioritize data governance.
Retailers: Getting back to business How are retail companies faring after making adjustments based on the pandemic, and what is on their agenda as they move forward into this new era of retail? Watch on-demand as SmartBrief, Hallmark and Farmgirl Flowers discuss where their businesses are picking up and how their goals have evolved over the last year. Watch now.
Some 66% of business-to-business marketers used email before the pandemic for customer acquisition and 10% have added it to their marketing mix since January 2020, according to a MeritB2B study. Email is also the top tool for customer retention, and MeritB2B's Chris Blohm notes, "The focus is always on audience, and email is a proven vehicle for optimized messaging to highly customized personas."
It can be difficult to remove bias from the hiring process, especially when considering the likeability of applicants or how a new hire might fit in with the company's culture, writes Omid Mael. Still, it's best to hire salespeople with an eye toward their coachability, resourcefulness and what they can add that the company is missing, Mael writes.
The pandemic has led companies to review the impact of employee benefits on the workforce. As a result, many companies are revising their approach to better support employees, expanding benefits in some areas and deprioritizing others.
Any digital transformation must be accompanied by an overarching change management strategy that generates sustained enthusiasm, Lisa Clark of BitCadet advises. Clark writes that "[w]ithout employee buy-in, a company is destined for failure."
To help distributors move past the pandemic successfully, every new copy of INNOVATE TO DOMINATE ordered now includes at no extra charge a brand-new e-chapter called, "Distribution Leans In: Stories of Resiliency and Innovation during the COVID-19 Pandemic." NAW has added this new e-chapter to give distributors immediate ways to apply all the lessons of INNOVATE TO DOMINATE as they emerge from the unprecedented challenges to a stronger business future. It's time for distributors to change the game and dominate the future of wholesale distribution. Order your copies today!
Guest blogger David Bauders of SPARXiQ says, "…knowing that strategic pricing has to evolve with modern times to support the growing interest in emerging sales strategies, the next step is to integrate pricing with the other key drivers of profit within a business. But what do we integrate and how?" Learn about the four levers of profitability when you read his blog post.
If you missed NAW's free webinar, "Developing a Marketplace Strategy," watch it on demand. Ian Heller and Jonathan Bein of Distribution Strategy Group and Alex Moazed of Applico discussed the latest thinking on marketplaces. They evaluated marketplace strategic options available to distributors, such as becoming a third-party seller on a merchant-owned marketplace, becoming a third-party seller on a marketplace not owned by a merchant, building your own marketplace, the imperative for an industry-owned marketplace, and opting out of marketplaces. Sponsored by Oracle Netsuite, Zoro and McFadyen Digital.
