March 25 2020 Archives - Modern Distribution Management

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March 25 2020

COVID-19: Distributors Work to Keep Pace with Demand

Volume:

50

Issue:

6

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Features
Web
Distributors are responding to customer concerns and increased demand on staff in a variety of ways, including limiting new business to meet existing customer demand; open communication on shortages and supplier allocations, and discouraging panic by not accepting returns beyond normal usage patterns. Face the crisis with a sense of flexibility and resilience, experts say.
COVID variants and supply chain pressures continue to challenge the industry across many levels. Distribution leaders, however, have used the ebbs and flows of nothing-like-normal to not only adapt to market disruptions, but to leverage emerging technology upgrades more aggressively to head off future headaches.

This is the PDF of this issue of Modern Distribution Management.

What poses the greatest threat to the master distributor model? Ask two of the master distributors featured in the latest issue of MDM Premium and they will share a similar response. Driven by factors such as increasing consolidation and the emergence of e-commerce marketplaces, homogenization and commoditization threaten to strip away the uniqueness of individual master distributors, disrupting their ability to invest in customer service and brand differentiation. Of course, master distributors don’t operate in a vacuum. The same issues they face are felt by the distributors they serve. That theme is reflected throughout this issue of MDM Premium. Our other two features — a Q&A with Cook & Boardman CEO Darrin Anderson and a feature on five emerging job roles in distribution — provide insight on specific actions distributors are taking to keep up with the pace of overall industry transformation.

Are you a subscriber? Simply log-in to view this issue.

PDF Download
Web
Distributors are responding to customer concerns and increased demand on staff in a variety of ways, including limiting new business to meet existing customer demand; open communication on shortages and supplier allocations, and discouraging panic by not accepting returns beyond normal usage patterns. Face the crisis with a sense of flexibility and resilience, experts say.
COVID variants and supply chain pressures continue to challenge the industry across many levels. Distribution leaders, however, have used the ebbs and flows of nothing-like-normal to not only adapt to market disruptions, but to leverage emerging technology upgrades more aggressively to head off future headaches.

This is the PDF of this issue of Modern Distribution Management.

What poses the greatest threat to the master distributor model? Ask two of the master distributors featured in the latest issue of MDM Premium and they will share a similar response. Driven by factors such as increasing consolidation and the emergence of e-commerce marketplaces, homogenization and commoditization threaten to strip away the uniqueness of individual master distributors, disrupting their ability to invest in customer service and brand differentiation. Of course, master distributors don’t operate in a vacuum. The same issues they face are felt by the distributors they serve. That theme is reflected throughout this issue of MDM Premium. Our other two features — a Q&A with Cook & Boardman CEO Darrin Anderson and a feature on five emerging job roles in distribution — provide insight on specific actions distributors are taking to keep up with the pace of overall industry transformation.

Are you a subscriber? Simply log-in to view this issue.

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