Covetrus is slated to go private in the second half of 2022 in a deal by private equity firms Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and TPG Capital that values the company at $4 billion. The deal puts the share price at $21, a 6.8% premium above the company's most recent closing.

Walmart will expand its drone delivery experiment with partner DroneUp to select delivery areas in six states, with the potential to provide the unmanned delivery service to about 4 million US households by the end of the year. Online shoppers will pay a $3.99 fee per order and there's a weight limit of 10 pounds on each order fulfilled by the service, which Walmart launched in North Carolina about two years ago.

Software-as-a-service-based warehouse management systems and automation are both based on standardization, so they are well-suited for each other, writes Jeremy Hudson of Open Sky Group. "What's more, your SaaS support team is trained on the platform to know exactly what to do," Hudson notes.

B2B purchasing technology is gradually catching up to its B2C counterpart, but the increased use of mobile purchasing and access to a broader range of suppliers can lead to a lack of intradepartmental visibility and uncontrolled spending, writes Max Kent, vice president of global procurement and business development at Compleat Software. Kent explains the similarities and differences between B2B and B2C purchasing and shares how companies can balance convenience and control.

Almost 60% of business-to-business professionals say leads are sometimes wrongly assigned and two-thirds are satisfied with their process for matching leads to accounts, according to a survey by Lean Data, Sales Hacker, Heinz Marketing and Outreach. In addition, 30% say sales or operations are responsible for routing leads, while a quarter say leads are routed by marketing automation platforms.

Marketers can maximize the benefits of artificial intelligence by using the technology to streamline time-consuming workflow, inform campaign decisions and make digital transformation come to fruition, writes Matthew Lieberman, PwC US chief marketing officer. Lieberman advises to take an "all-of-the-above approach" rather than just one or two AI benefits, and offers four ways that marketers can work with company leadership to showcase AI.

Leaders can prevent themselves from getting burned out and causing the stress to spread among the workforce by spending a few minutes each day walking, reading or getting a snack and encouraging co-workers to do the same, says author Nataly Kogan. "If you have an hour meeting every week, cut it 10 minutes short; tell everyone to go do a mini fuel-up, and tell them to tell you what they did to create that accountability," Kogan says.

Employee assistance plans are often cut by companies due to their relatively low usage rate, but they are a vital, cost-effective benefit for workers needing mental health or crisis support, Travis Turner writes. "Any time you can keep a good employee on staff, your organization is better for it," Turner writes.

Looking for insights on creating and building your marketplace strategy? Watch this free webinar for distribution leaders on Marketplace Disruption and Strategic Response. Hear from Ian Heller, co-founder and chief strategy officer at Distribution Strategy Group, and Alex Moazed, founder and CEO of Applico. These two thought leaders, along with a panel of distributors, discuss their own marketplace strategies and share the business decisions that led to their specific strategies. Watch now!

Are you looking for professional development programs to help you retain and develop your key personnel? If yes, then the NAW Certificate in Distribution Professional Management program will help your leaders reach their highest performance levels. Learn more.

The NAW Large Company Roundtables are an exclusive community of thought leaders from Large Company distribution enterprises who congregate to network with non-competing peers in multiple lines of trade on key issues. The companies invited into this community are from distribution firms at or above $100M and $999M in annual sales. Register today!