Winsupply had a record $4.2 billion in revenue in the past fiscal year, with President John McKenzie crediting local owners and companies' efforts to meet customer needs during the pandemic. Winsupply businesses introduced contactless delivery and curbside pickup while controlling expenses.

United Natural Foods will deploy a new platform from Crisp to provide real-time sales and inventory data for its stores and suppliers. The tool organizes and integrates insights gleaned from tracking sales to allow UNFI and those in its supply chain to make data-driven decisions that will help keep shelves stocked.

Amazon has released a report based on insights from 500 procurement leaders on the buying and selling sides, with 85% saying the pandemic has increased online procurement, a trend 96% said will continue. Efficiency is this year's top buyer priority, while customer experience is tops for sellers.

Amazon will start using two autonomous guided carts this year and is developing other robotics systems for warehouse use. Meanwhile, Alibaba is sending 1,000 Xiamonanlv package-delivery robots to Chinese universities.

Supply chains have an additional challenge with cybersecurity because they aren't just keeping themselves secure but also everyone they interact with, says Sharon Reynolds, chief information security officer at Omnitracs. "But with supply chain, even your suppliers have suppliers, so you need to identify your third-party and fourth-party risks," Reynolds says.

Successful change management calls for sales leaders to believe in what they're doing, listen to concerns and get everyone on the same page, writes LinkedIn sales executive Catherine O'Connor Hurley. "If everyone is doing something different, it's nearly impossible to isolate what's working, let alone replicate, iterate on, and scale those successes," Hurley writes.

Few of us are savvy and agile enough to successfully navigate office politics and gossip, whereas working hard and staying out of the fray can actually earn you more esteem, recognition and situational power, writes Keith Danko, founder of Witherspoon Partners and a former CEO. That said, if you're at a company "where the office politics start at the very top and are completely infused throughout the business," you'd best head for the exits.

The act of clear thinking is a never-ending lesson where "you're aiming at a process, the result of which will always be an act of communication, complete with all the imperfections and contingencies this implies," writes Tom Chatfield, author of "How To Think." Chatfield discusses why clarity requires knowing what you're claiming, determining whether a reasonable person would believe your claim and assessing whether your thoughts and actions are in alignment.

Suppliers are increasingly selling direct, customer demographics are skewing younger and many distributors are struggling to keep up. Distributors are grappling with fundamental changes in the expectations of their supply chain partners. Suppliers continue to report frustration with their distributors' poor digital capabilities. Join NAW on June 29 at 2 p.m. for this free, live webinar with Ian Heller and Jonathan Bein of Distribution Strategy Group, who will recommend actions distributors should take to address this growing channel conflict. Register today.

Designed for C-suite executives, these roundtables provide actionable strategies that will increase your company's competitive advantage. Companies belonging to this community are from distribution firms between $100 million and up to $1 billion in annual sales. You'll engage in thought-provoking conversations with your peers and hear from industry experts on topics that will ultimately increase your profits! Register today.

How have distributors been innovating their business during the pandemic? Find that out and much more from 10 distributors who tell their stories and share ideas for both surviving and thriving in a drastically changed business environment. Author Mark Dancer shares up-to-the-minute ideas and insights from distributor leaders based on their experiences and lessons learned from the coronavirus pandemic. Order this just-released e-chapter, "Distribution Leans In: Stories of Resiliency and Innovation During the COVID-19 Pandemic."