Essendant has benefited from its acquisition by Sycamore Partners through improved sourcing and shared supply chains, says President Harry Dochelli. Essendant has made divestments to focus on office supplies and janitorial and sanitation markets while providing value to resellers with features such as its Biggestbook.com platform.
Amazon now has 20,000 branded tractor-trailers on the road in the US, twice the number it had in 2018, according to company officials. The company says it will invest $1.5 billion during the fourth quarter to quickly move the more than 10 million products eligible for Prime one-day delivery.
Report: Mining The Gold in Distribution Data The strategic role of analytics is rapidly changing every industry. This industry research report explores the challenges and ways distributors are transforming their business models with data management and analytics to combat industry disruptors and a create long-term competitive advantage. Download the report.
Des Cahill, chief marketing officer at Oracle CX, talks about the growing importance of a strategic approach to customer experience, the challenges in eliminating company data silos and what remains unique about business-to-business marketing. He notes that "there is this nurturing aspect to B2B that's fundamentally different than B2C," adding, "But in terms of a level, the quality of experience, we all leave our homes and go to work and expect this level of experience."
Sales departments must focus on retaining current customers to succeed in the long run, with a special emphasis on providing value to their most valuable accounts, writes Sean McPheat. By getting current customers to buy a larger range of products and putting effort into understanding customers' businesses, sellers can offer value and make their company harder to replace in the future, McPheat adds.
What's on tap in manufacturing and distribution in 2020? Join experts from Netsuite and Deloitte as they talk about 2020 trends and technologies that will drive business, how to respond to a growing demand for price transparency, why now is the time to invest in updating back-office systems and more. Register for the webinar on Thursday, December 5th at 2 PM EST.
The idea of "growth-minded" zero-based budgeting makes the process ongoing and looks to assess costs for their strategic value, not just cut costs indiscriminately, according to this Boston Consulting Group analysis. "Because expenditures are classified according to their type, rather than their point of origin, ZBB brings once-hidden costs to the surface," the authors write.
Don't instantly believe what you read or hear, and look closer at how you're getting information, from whom it comes and the quality of the information itself, writes Frank Sonnenberg. "As a general rule of thumb, Ronald Reagan was right when he said, 'Trust, but verify,' " he writes.
For small businesses dealing with high shipment volumes or complex products, having to fulfill every new order in-house can quickly become overwhelming. But given their limited resources, how can small businesses grow more efficient without depleting their budget or overwhelming their staff? The answer might just be on-demand warehousing.
As businesses like Amazon and Walmart introduce streamlined services for e-commerce fulfillment and distribution, customer expectations are evolving in-kind. But without equal funding, how can small and mid-sized companies optimize their supply chains to remain competitive? For a growing number of firms, the answer is on-demand warehousing.
Growing in popularity within our industry, the NAW Certificate in Distribution Professional Management Program is ideal for high-potential managers who seek to complement their professional development with a strong emphasis on practical application within the distribution field. Three, one-week sessions at Texas A&M University focus on Generating and Managing Growth (Feb. 10-14), Distributor Capability Development (April 13-17), and Optimizing Distributor Profitability (Oct. 19-23). Get all the details and enroll your high achievers today before the seats are gone.
Are you well-informed about the latest knowledge in our industry? If not, NAW's just-updated Top 10 Best Sellers list provides the best wholesale distribution knowledge all in one place. These top 10 books are what distributors across the industry are reading right now. Which of these top picks should be on your fall reading list? Quantity discounts start with two copies ordered.
Why are 82% of businesses migrating away from paper-based AR cycles? Hear payment industry experts answer wholesaler-distributors' questions about e-invoices in this podcast from NAW's Partner for AR technology and payment acceptance solutions, Unified Commerce. Download or stream this 14-minute podcast to learn how to get paid faster, smarter and at less cost.
