Advance Auto Parts has agreed to purchase Sears' DieHard brand for $200 million in cash. The deal includes three physical DieHard stores but will not include an agreement to sell DieHard products through Amazon.

Amazon will increase fulfillment fees for third-party sellers by an average of 3% next year, with most changes to begin Feb. 18. The company said it spent more than $15 billion in 2019 on its Fulfillment by Amazon program and other tools intended to improve the performance of third-party sellers.

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon says the company will focus on its supercenters as the hub of the shopping experience, which includes monetizing the data that the stores generate and using them as a distribution hub for online and pickup sales. "The time where people might have been worried that our boxes were too big has long passed," McMillon said at a recent investor meeting.

Manufacturers should follow three best practices to encourage the correct employee behaviors regarding workplace safety, writes training content developer Brent Daviau. Knowing how employees learn, using real-life scenarios and repeating training frequently can help create a culture of safety, he writes.

Successful e-commerce efforts begin with a willingness to meet customer needs and experiment, according to a Forrester Research report. Businesses must also consider their technical competence and resources while evaluating e-commerce technology.

A study of hundreds of sales calls indicated that the most successful sales pitches include a referral or evidence of why the customer should choose the seller over competitors, writes Aurelien Mottier. Other key elements of good pitches include discussion of the customer's pain points and the main benefits of the solution as it relates to those points.

Jazz musicians make songs work by listening to one another and following the leader in a shared vision of the song, writes Jim Taggart. The "less is more" philosophy of jazz can help leaders communicate effectively without exhausting their people with muddy or too frequent communication, he writes.

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.

Called the "Master class in innovation for distributors," "Innovate to Dominate: The 12th Edition in the Facing the Forces of Change Series" has arrived. A roadmap for innovation, it helps distributors connect the dots between the forces of change and how distributors can change their business to capture opportunities -- and defend their business when necessary. The best innovations are about getting ahead instead of catching up. Order your copies to read over the holidays.

There's no denying the growth/demise ratio of Amazon versus brick-and-mortar operations. The "Amazon Effect" is causing businesses to literally shut down, leaving their creditors at a loss. NAW's strategic partner Cortera wants wholesaler-distributors to be ready. For a limited time, Cortera is offering wholesaler-distributors a complimentary Portfolio Analysis, CFO Report and unlimited Boost. Take advantage of this offer.