PolyOne has reached a deal to purchase Clariant's masterbatches business. PolyOne will derive most of its earnings from specialty chemicals while reaping $60 million of cost savings after the deal closes.

Minnesota-based Sun Country Airlines has agreed to shuttle Amazon cargo using 10 converted Boeing 737-800 freighters beginning in the second quarter of 2020. The move is part of Amazon's expansion of its air and logistics network to fulfill quick delivery commitments for Prime members and will help it meet its goal of leasing 70 planes by 2021.

Companies have sprouted up to meet businesses' e-commerce and fulfillment needs, resulting in "what amounts to a virtual logistics system in Amazon's shadow," writes Jennifer Smith. These include operators such as ShipBob and Quiet Logistics, which fulfill orders for direct-to-consumer brands; Flowspace and Flexe, which find warehouses on demand; and Shippo, ShipHawk and ShipHero, which enable companies to book and track shipments.

Many distributors have turned to rental robots as a way to support logistics operations while retaining the ability to scale operations as needed, writes Ben Ames. Vendors say their robot rental services help warehouses and fulfillment centers benefit from the latest technology at a lower cost than outright purchases would allow.

Some 56% of business-to-business marketers expect their budget to remain static for 2020, while 41% expect an increase, Sagefrog reports. The top three objectives for B2B marketers in 2020 are, in order, lead conversion, boosting sales leads and increasing brand awareness; and the top three new strategies are, in order, personalization, account-based marketing and video.

Distributors can improve financial outcomes by using retention selling to develop better customer relationships and encourage repeat purchases, writes Bridget McCrea. Gartner advises meeting customer retention goals by providing customers with a unique perspective on the challenges they face and offering value that goes beyond standard products and services.

The October kickoff meeting was so popular that the NAW Institute and Texas A&M are holding a second kickoff meeting Jan. 23, so more companies can participate in our groundbreaking Digitizing the Sales Process Consortium. Distributors: This is your opportunity to contribute to this fundamental research on how distributors will determine which portions of the sales process will be digitized. Learn more here; if you're interested, you have to register soon, because only four seats are available.

Don't miss the NAW 2020 Executive Summit: INNOVATE TO DOMINATE, Jan. 28-30! This year's forward-looking program and networking with distributors who are your peers will really shake up your thinking, provide you with fresh ideas and critical thinking, and give you a rare chance to benchmark your business. You'll walk away with valuable insights that you'll translate into ideas to help you run your business more effectively and profitably. Register today.

According to Benj Cohen, "AI has automated the fundamental challenge of sales: 'knowing your customer.' B2B and B2C sellers are increasing revenue by analyzing data and accurately predicting what customers will buy with AI. However, AI is only as good as the data that feeds it." In his latest post, he explains how distributors can use intent data to supercharge sales and win the data race. Read his post.