According to today’s Wall Street Journal, it appears that Epicor, the provider of Eclipse to many electrical distributors, is up for sale again. Apax Partners, the private equity firm that purchased Epicor in 2011, and eventually Activant, reportedly is again […]
Equitable compensation is a topic that is near and dear to every manufacturer, distributor, manufacturer rep and salesperson. After all, why “sell” a product if you are not compensated for it? This is one of the key issues facing electrical […]
Feedback from manufacturers and distributors indicate a rather significant drop in sales but recent conversations indicate that margins could be even more significantly impacted. While industrial margins typically are higher than contractor / construction business, this quickly could become a […]
Over the past couple of years there has been a number of initiatives, as well as much time and money invested, into ecommerce. While essentially everyone feels that this is an essential service to offer for longer-term growth (or survival), […]
As we’ve talked to distributors over the summer a recurring theme has been the need to improve inventory management. Part of the reason is that the frequency of new products has increased, another issue is the stocking of LED products […]
Last week we received a press release, which was published in multiple outlets, from Datalliance announcing that Legrand’s Wiremold line, Hoffman and ILSCO “are continuing to expand their Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) programs with a growing list of distributors and utilities […]
This week we’re continuing with our ElectricalTrends Tech Vision Series. One of the most, if not the most, important piece of technology within a distributor is their ERP system. It essentially is the central repository for a distributor to develop […]
This week we’re continuing with our ElectricalTrends Tech Vision Series. One of the most, if not the most, important piece of technology within a distributor is their ERP system. It essentially is the central repository for a distributor. Among functions, […]
Amazon is considered one of the most innovative companies in the world, which, considering that they are a $90 billion company is pretty amazing. In fact, a Google search of “Amazon innovative company” yields 4.4 million entries! They regularly make […]
You say or mention Microsoft around just about every distributor and their employees and they respond “Excel” almost in unison. Some will say ‘Outlook’, ‘Power Point’ or ‘Access’. Very few will say AX (The ERP software) or AX Dynamics. Your kids […]
