Genuine Parts' Motion subsidiary reported second-quarter profit of $150 million on sales of $1.59 billion, both up from a year earlier. The company as a whole swung to a net profit of $196 million on sales of $4.78 billion, up 25.1%.
Instacart and Fabric have joined to provide US and Canadian food retailers with microfulfillment centers. The facilities will use both robotic software and front-end e-commerce technology to accelerate and facilitate online grocery orders placed through the Instacart Marketplace or through a retailer's branded Instacart e-commerce site.
The trucking sector was already struggling with recruitment and an aging workforce, but the problem got worse during the pandemic as driving schools closed and demand increased. "We're all vying for a very small percentage of people," says Dean Kaplan, CEO of Ohio-based K-Limited Carrier.
Customer, inventory, pricing and supplier analytics can help distributors make better decisions, improve profitability and handle growth, writes Senthil Gunasekaran, co-founder of ActVantage. Gunasekaran explains which analytics types are best for generating, managing and sustaining growth.
Influencer marketing can play a powerful role in boosting business-to-business brand awareness and reputation, writes HypeAuditor CEO Alexander Frolov, who offers five guidelines. Frolov covers how to identify the right B2B influencers, which platforms are best for your company and how to measure results.
Specific yet open-ended questions such as "What could I have done better?" can help teammates and reports give you honest feedback -- provided you reward constructive criticism, writes "Radical Candor" author Kim Scott. "Remind yourself going in that no matter how unfair the criticism, your first job is to listen with the intent to understand, not to defend yourself," Scott writes.
We can escape the prison of our negative self-talk by adopting a growth mindset, focusing on what we can control, being more playful and reframing situations in a more positive light, writes Gregg Vanourek. "Many people become passive victims of the random thought-stream in their minds instead of engaging their 'observer' or deeper perspective and employing their ability to choose which thoughts to keep and which to dismiss as unproductive or unwelcome," Vanourek writes.
According to Benj Cohen, entrepreneur of artificial intelligence technology and third-generation distributor "The pandemic brought with it a rise in digital B2B purchasing. Boundaries were broken down and expectations were removed as businesses began making purchases like consumers: quickly and conveniently from their home computers." Read his post.
Through the education alliance between the NAW Institute for Distribution Excellence and Texas A&M University's Industrial Distribution Program, NAW offers this cutting-edge educational program that is customized to distributors. Learn more.
Rate tier changes and new fee increases are the biggest in a decade to costs U.S. businesses pay to accept credit cards. Understanding the fees your business pays has never been more important. Learn how in the B2B A/R Update "Card Brands Make Good on Interchange Fee Increases for B2B Card-Not-Present Transactions."
