Distributors among top sellers of groceries, convenience | MSC Industrial posts higher fiscal Q3 profit, sales | Synnex working with Microsoft after attempted cyberbreach
C&S Wholesale Grocers, Sobeys and United Natural Foods are among the top 20 companies, by 2020-21 revenue, in terms of grocery, drug store, convenience and dollar store sales. Wakefern Food, Hy-Vee, Associated Wholesale Grocers, SpartanNash and Alex Lee also made the top 50.
MSC Industrial Direct posted profit of $94.43 million on net sales of $866.29 million for the fiscal third quarter. Both figures were higher than the year-ago period.
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The supply chain management technology segment is growing rapidly as companies realize the benefits of digitization, according to Gartner research, but manufacturers and distributors need to reframe it as demand chain management, suggests Enable's Andrew Butt. Supply chain management can only do so much, points out Butt, so companies should shift toward more outcome-oriented practices to improve performance and satisfy customers.
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Price is important to customers, but not as important as finding a solution to their problem and earning a return on their investment, writes David Brock. "Price is important, but it is never 'the issue,' unless we make it the issue or have trained the customer to make it the issue," Brock writes.
Looking to grow their businesses, online marketers covet data—and so do hackers, writes Grace Lau. Lau covers seven scenarios in which marketers can be attacked, noting that while it may "feel natural to preserve as much information as possible," the better policy is to reduce the amount that's held.
A better alternative to multitasking is to block out time in your day for specific tasks, along with minimizing distractions, setting your intention and tackling difficult tasks first, writes Samantha Zurek. "When we block time in specific chunks to focus on finite tasks that correlate, our mind has the ability to settle in and get comfortable with the work," she writes.
America's working-age population shrank for the first time in 2020 and this could exacerbate a talent shortage, driving up pay and other benefits as employers compete to attract and retain talent. The Conference Board economist Gad Levanon says the decline will be particularly evident in industries that need blue-collar workers as older employees leaving the workforce will be succeeded by increasing numbers of college-educated workers.
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According to David Bauders, SPARXiQ CEO, "Most distributors believe that their efforts of building home-grow pricing matrices amount to accomplishing strategic pricing, but they often experience only modest or flat or even declining (over time) profit improvements." Read his post.
