Fastenal sees better daily sales growth in July | Insight Enterprises' Q2 earnings, net sales increase | Arrow Electronics posts higher profit for Q2, H1
Fastenal's daily sales increased 9.7% in July, an improvement from June's rate of 1.7%. Total sales for July came in at $492 million, a 4.7% increase from a year earlier but down 7.8% from June.
Insight Enterprises earned $58.56 million in the second quarter, up from $46.39 million a year ago. The technology distributor had net sales of $2.23 billion, up 13%.
Arrow Electronics reported second-quarter profit of $240.6 million on sales of $8.6 billion, both up from a year earlier. First-half earnings also increased year over year.
Contrary to popular belief, artificial intelligence is practical, has many uses in distribution and can handle "messy data," writes Jill Voege of Proton.ai. "AI connects the dots for distributors," benefiting buyers, salespeople and customer service teams, Voege writes.
Shipping containers are increasingly backed up at slow-moving ports and inland hubs in the US, Asia and Europe, with prices skyrocketing and shipping lines rushing empty units back to their starting points to pick up goods. A container that once took about 30 days to travel from Beijing to Chicago now takes over 70 days, according to Federal Maritime Commission member Carl Bentzel.
Despite the 8,000 companies offering martech solutions, the industry desperately needs systems that can deliver insights related to the emotional side of business-to-business decision making, writes Carbon Design CEO and founder Scott Gillum. The martech "industry is thriving by treating poor performance as a chronic disease -- developing tools to keep the focus on extending reach and increasing scale, not on improving conversion rate or return on effort and investment," Gillum writes.
Leaders who develop a habit of positive energy demonstrate traits such as helping employees advance, earning their trust and expressing gratitude, writes Kim Cameron, a professor and founder of the Center for Positive Organizations at the University of Michigan. "Positively energizing leadership is developed; it is not inherent," he writes.
Join us tomorrow at 2 p.m. ET for a free webinar. During this webinar, we will review a variety of IT architectures based on various distribution business models, sizes and markets. We will also summarize the importance and potential of several emerging technologies to help your team prepare for what is coming next. Register today.
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