Grainger Chairman and CEO D.G. Macpherson says Amazon is "a wonderful company and a great competitor and one we take seriously," but he's focused on making sure his company best serves its customers. Macpherson also predicts "flat to slight MRO growth compared to 2019."

United Natural Foods' Community Marketplace e-commerce platform is continuing to add products and stores since its April launch, says President and Chief Marketing Officer Christopher Testa. The marketplace is an extension of UNFI's Easy Options B2B platform.

Hy-Vee and Google have entered into a technology partnership designed to give the grocer a larger and more efficient e-commerce footprint in all of its operational areas. Hy-Vee will leverage the power of the Google Cloud platform to bolster its Aisle Online service and "provide a unique and more personalized experience as we work to integrate all our digital platforms and look to further simplify the customer's interaction with our services," said Hy-Vee's Aaron Wiese.

Businesses waited an average of 62 days to pay their suppliers in fiscal year 2020, 7.6% longer than in the previous year, as pandemic-fueled upheaval spurred them to conserve more cash, according to Hackett Group research. Some companies, such as Lockheed Martin and Micron Technology, have paid suppliers early while others have turned to supply chain financing to free up cash while paying bills on time.

The highest influence on business-to-business buyers is salespeople "leading a thorough discovery" of their needs, concerns and wants, according to a report from RAIN Group. The second and third highest influences, respectively, are demonstrating how to solve problems and listening.

Situational leadership is helpful when shepherding a team through a project, as you want to empower employees while still providing direction, coaching, oversight and, ultimately, post-project review, writes Naphtali Hoff. "There is so much that can be learned from each completed project -- what went right, what didn't and why -- that it simply is bad practice to forge ahead without first gleaning those nuggets," he writes.

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.

Benj Cohen of Proton.ai says, "It's no wonder then that CRM systems are notorious for not delivering the return distributors expect. CRM is most often used for tracking notes, contacts and tasks -- a glorified Rolodex for sales reps. But its value rarely goes beyond that for distributors. A big part of the problem is that traditional solutions aren't set up for the distribution sales model -- high-volume repeat sales, high SKU counts and many ways for customers to conduct business with distributors." Read his post.

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