With all eyes turned to 2024, MDM’s November Premium content went heavy on coverage and analysis of the economic outlook for distributors, for which a “soft landing” seems to be the consensus.

In a Nov. 20 piece, I distilled seven key takeaways from ITR Economics President Alan Beaulieu’s keynote at the Nov. 5-7 STAFDA Convention, where he emphasized how 2024 should be distributors’ year of investment to prepare for the rest of the decade. 

Also on the outlook front, we covered the quantitative results of our 3Q Baird-MDM Distribution Survey that asked 400+ respondents what their current base case is for the U.S. economy in 2024, based on their recent conversations with customers and suppliers, as well as factoring in backlogs, bidding and quoting activity. Premium members can find a wealth of trends data in our 3Q MarketPulse Report that packages all of the info from that 3Q survey.

Distributor revenue expectations were also examined in my Nov. 13 piece that focused on the month-to-month changes in the U.S. Census Bureau’s wholesale trade data.

A Nov. 16 piece from Senior Editor Vesna Brajkovic extracted interesting nuggets from Wesco’s presentation at the Baird Global Industrial Conference on Nov. 8, where the electrical distribution giant detailed how it has used the growth playbook from Anixter International, which Wesco acquired in 2020 for $4.5 billion and essentially doubled the company’s size. That playbook continues to drive Wesco toward its goal of 10%+ EBITDA margin.

Also from Brajkovic, her Nov. 6 piece took an interesting look at the AI “Hype Cycle” issued by Gartner, which illustrates where AI currently stands in terms of the B2B sector’s interest in new, relevant technologies from market entrance until business benefit. According to Gartner, we’re currently at the peak of inflated AI expectations. 

On that note, MDM will host a virtual AI for Distributors Summit on Feb. 7, where you can pick up plenty of practical advice for how to get started with infusing AI into your business, and where the technology is headed in this industry. Stay tuned for details.

Last but not least, November’s content included the final segment of contributor Randy MacLean’s three-part series on how to exploit demographics for growth, with Part 3 focusing on how to cover labor costs with sales.

Looking ahead, expect to find December Premium coverage on the topic of cybersecurity, which should be top-of-mind for everyone after prominent health care products distributor Henry Schein spent most of October and November dealing with the fallout of two separate cyber attacks from the same bad actor. 

The data breach resulted in a significant amount of sensitive information exposed — customer data and personal info — and Henry Schein’s eCommerce platform was crippled for an extended period of time.

Premium subscribers can download and view MDM’s November 2023 issue of Premium Monthly here.

Check out our October Premium Monthly here, and September’s here.