Distributors Speak Out in EW Profile

A recent survey of Electrical Wholesaling subscribers uncovered evidence that while technology is quickly reshaping how distributors and their customers do business, other aspects of the marketing equation remain very much the same.

Online ordering is apparently gaining popularity with electrical distributors. Of the 100-plus distributors who responded to the survey for Electrical Wholesaling's 2011 Reader Profile, 51.9 percent said they place orders electronically via their vendors' websites and 68.5 percent said they check order and delivery status online. And electrical distributors' customers are more tech-savvy than you may think, as 27.8 percent of survey respondents said some of their customers are already ordering products with their smartphones.

The EW Reader Profile data on the types of new-generation products that distributors now stock concurred with what Electrical Wholesaling's editors found out in their Top 200 survey, as LED lighting is clearly the most popular of the newer technology products, with 84 percent of respondents already stocking LEDs, and solar products accounting for a smaller but still significant place (24 percent of respondents stocking).

While new technology is clearly changing how electrical distributors manage their companies, what they stock and how they sell and order products, some evergreen marketing issues surfaced in the EW Reader Profile survey. Many electrical manufacturers apparently still don't do a good job of promoting their new products, as 67.6 percent of survey respondents could recall examples of new products being publicly announced to their customers before the distributors' own companies heard about them. Electrical Wholesaling's reader profiles in past years revealed similar results, driving home the point that electrical manufacturers should never underestimate how much electrical distributors value new product information.

Another indication of their interest in new products is the fact that 70 percent of survey respondents rated the magazine's “Product Alert” department either “4” or “5” on a scale of 1- 5 (5 being the highest).

There was some good news for electrical manufacturers trying to add distribution. Electrical distributors are apparently still adding new product lines, even in this sluggish economy. Of all respondents, 64.9 percent added at least three new product lines in the past 12 months.