SpartanNash's wholesale distribution business has "the ability to provide solutions to our independent retailers that they may not otherwise be able to offer to their shoppers as a one- or two-store chain," Chief Marketing Officer Amy McClellan says. Health and wellness offerings, as well as providing convenience for customers, are two ways the company can differentiate itself, McClellan says.

Walmart is investing millions of dollars in renovating its Menomonie, Wis., regional distribution center as part of its plan to upgrade 25 of its regional distribution centers with updated, high-tech automation that includes AI-powered software and robotics. The renovations will speed up product intake, double the original space capacity and improve worker safety.

Organizations can add resilience into supply chains by establishing proper risk management, extending visibility to upstream and direct suppliers, and revisiting where and how they source goods, writes Jim Kilpatrick of Deloitte. "'Friend-shoring,' or the reorchestration of critical supply chains by swapping risky foreign suppliers with close allies and partners may offer a pragmatic solution," Kilpatrick writes.

Trucking capacity and spot rates are beginning to normalize as employment stabilizes and consumer spending slows following the Omicron surge, supply chain experts said during Coyote Logistics' Supply Chain Master Series. "It does feel like we're beginning to enter this period of deflation within the transportation sector and truckload market in general," said Jack Atkins, a Stephens transportation research analyst, adding that experts are still monitoring the effects of parts shortages and the conflict in Ukraine.

One way distributors can improve e-commerce sales is through a better buyer experience, including relevant search results, easy reordering and a website optimized for mobile, writes Benj Cohen of Proton.ai. "You can also connect your existing systems to your ecommerce site so that your sales reps can benefit from quick access to historical transactions and relevant customer data," Cohen writes.

Business-to-business marketers should shift to customer-centric content that appeals to the emotions of buyers instead of relying on the logic and rationality of product-centric marketing, writes Kortmann Beton's Benedikt Gentner. "As you go beyond the neutral and objective characteristics to include emotional and subjective characteristics, you set yourself apart from your competitors and help your customers to feel better understood," Gentner writes.

Leaders set themselves up for failure when they set unrealistic goals, overly trust their intuition and don't examine their biases, writes Dan Rockwell. "Arrogance destroys you, but you reject self-sabotage when you embrace your frailty," Rockwell writes.

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