The National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors has hired Bart Tessel as its chief innovation officer. Tessel, who has 25 years of experience in wholesale distribution, began his duties on Aug. 1 and said he looks "forward to working with all of our dynamic members and the remarkable NAW team to build upon NAW's tradition of customer service, and help members grow and innovate their operations."
Applied Industrial Technologies had a record quarter for its fourth fiscal quarter, jumping 18.5% compared to last year to a total of $1.1 billion in sales. The distributor reported a net income of $79 million in the fourth quarter, with organic sales rising 18.7% and sales in the service center segment rising 21%.
Drone deliveries are coming to Walmart stores in Tampa and Orlando, Fla., and can deliver packages totaling 10 pounds or less within a mile of the store. The two new sites are among 34 in six states where the retailer expects to have its DroneUp delivery service by the end of the year.
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An Epicor report shows 78% of companies that make, move or sell products have updated core competencies during the past year, while 85% of such companies have grown by diversifying operations amid supply chain challenges. Digital transformation, configure-price-quote options and e-commerce channels are among common shifts that have helped companies grow.
Global airfreight volume decreased by 9% year-over-year in July, while rates dropped compared with June but remained 11% above July 2021 and 121% above the pre-pandemic level in July 2019, according to Xeneta unit Clive Data Services. Niall van de Wouw, Xeneta's chief airfreight officer, attributes the volume drop to factors such as the war in Ukraine and staff shortages at airports and airlines, and he predicts "the market has yet to bottom out."
Scott Gillum, founder and CEO of Carbon Design, offers six tips for business-to-business marketers to find and work effectively with the influencers inside companies who have the persuasive powers to lean on decision-making and buying groups. The type of content these influencers love are "short, animated videos and infographics that they can forward, as well as learning opportunities for people, such as events or webinar invitations," Gillum advises.
To create a comprehensive content marketing strategy, sales and marketing leaders must be adept with spending metrics, engagement data, customer relationship management software and web analytics, writes Martin Zwilling, founder and CEO of Startup Professionals. Leaders can make themselves more valuable by ensuring a big-picture view of return-on-investment costs that extend before and after the main sales event, Zwilling writes.
"Stressful workplace conditions can be debilitating," writes Julie Winkle Giulioni, who suggests four ways to alleviate employee worries, including celebrating successes, clearly communicating the state of the business and focusing on employee development. "Remind people of the ebb and flow that's natural in business, sharing stories and examples from the past that demonstrate how this, too, will pass," Giulioni writes.
From sales managers to CEOs, good leaders will free up some idea-generation time for their team's few visionaries -- those who often are frustrated about opportunities lost because they were "tied up with mundane tasks," economist and consultant Bill Conerly writes. Also, to support fresh thinking, "[e]very senior leader should consider his or her own personality, and consciously team up with another senior person who has the other perspective," Conerly writes.
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 with annual sales between $100 million and $999 million. Register today!
