August 25, 2010

Challenges Facing Buying Groups

Leave a Comment / Subscriber Only, Research & Analytics / Lindsay Konzak

This article evaluates challenges buying and marketing groups face in today's markets. Part 1 of this article, published in the Aug. 10, 2010, issue of MDM, looked at the benefits and evolving role these groups are playing for distributors and manufacturers.

While they have seen many successes, buying and marketing groups like other organizations that support the distribution industry face challenges in a marketplace besot by slow sales, cost and margin pressures, and consolidation.

Along with these economic challenges, about a third of respondents to a recent MDM survey on the topic said that loyalty and providing ongoing value to member distributors and vendors were top challenges.

Other challenges noted by respondents included:

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Commentary: More Uncertainty Requires Better Planning

Leave a Comment / Subscriber Only / Tom Gale

Beyond the core management team, how involved are your employees in the company's annual planning process? Do your employees know what the business plan is for the remainder of this year? Many distributors would answer "no" simply because this year has been unlike most others.

With so much uncertainty in the first quarter, the plan was hope and survival. When results exceeded expectations, the focus shifted to generating revenue and managing demand …

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MDM Interview: Distribution M&A Valuation Trends

Leave a Comment / Top Distributor Sectors, Subscriber Only / MDM Staff

M&A activity has started to pick up again. Recently, MDM spoke with Jon Skelly, managing director at investment banking firm Vetus Partners, about the current state of the M&A market, the types of businesses that are selling, and the most common mistakes made when valuing an acquisition.

MDM: This seems like an interesting market right now.

Jon Skelly: There are days where there is a lot of activity. And the next week it's eerily quiet. The market is so diverse right now. We thought it would be off to the races, but recently there's been a lot of bad press on the economy that …

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Monthly Wholesale Trade Data: June 2010

Leave a Comment / Subscriber Only / MDM Staff

Wholesale revenues decline in June, while inventories increase.

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U.S. MARKET ANALYSIS: 2009 Janitorial Supplies

Leave a Comment / Subscriber Only, Research & Analytics, Market Analysis / MDM Staff

Janitorial Supplies represented a market in 2009 of $xxx billion, according to estimates by Industrial Market Information, Minneapolis.

These charts show the top ten industries, by SIC code, consuming these products; and the 2009 end-user consumption of these groups sorted by the nine government market regions.

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MDM Industrial Inflation Index: July 2010

Leave a Comment / Top Distributor Sectors, Subscriber Only, Research & Analytics, Economic Trends / MDM Staff

Modern Distribution Management's Industrial Inflation Index measures a cross-section of industrial supplies.

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Download this Issue: MDM Aug. 25, 2010

Leave a Comment / Subscriber Only, Full Issue PDF / MDM Staff

This is the pdf of this issue of Modern Distribution Management. Apply the full $24.95 pay-per-view cost toward an annual subscription, which includes two issues a month plus access to more than eight years of online archives and market data. Call 1-888-742-5060 or email info@mdm.com to subscribe. Subscribers log-in to download this issue.

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