Category Archives: Supply Chain Partners

26. Channel Reps: It’s Time to Reinvent Your Cost/Benefit Value!

AmazonBusiness, Index, Profit Analytics, Supply Chain Partners

The changing objectives of supply chain buyers and the Internet have combined to erode the value of traditional, product-pushing, channel reps. In today’s world, the challenge for reps will be in adapting and acquiring new skills before they fade away.

The Trends and Current Realities   

Since 1980, there has been a huge and ongoing reduction in and consolidation of factory reps in all major channels. The 1990s first saw the behemoth Wal-Mart change the game when it requested that suppliers switch out area reps working on commission for executive-led supply chain teams with the power to enter into new collaborative supply chain solutions.
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5. Your 2020 Company Plan

2020 Companies, Index, Supply Chain Partners, ,

2020 is 5+ years away. Do you have a 2020 Company Plan? What are you doing to prepare for a world going exponentially digital?

Our personal shopping and education starts with Google or Amazon. YouTube currently uploads 20 hours of new video clips per minute: and increasing! Our kids (and many globally) learn whatever they want to on their mobile devices. In poor countries, they then use social media to organize protest-riots.

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AmazonSupply (AS): New Competitor and Role Model

AmazonBusiness, Supply Chain Partners

The news on AmazonSupply.com (AS) will continue to accelerate. AS has recently increased its items for sale into 17 (and climbing?) “vertical” distribution channels in pursuit of “business-to-business” (B2B) sales. On May 8, 2014 Forbes Magazine published an article:  “Amazon’s Wholesale Slaughter”, which was long on short-term hype, but short on long-term vision.

Because Amazon (AMZ) is the most: innovative and channel-changing juggernaut ever, what we see today at AS is just a beginning. Their mission statement suggests more to come: “to sell everything needed to rebuild civilization”. How will AS pressure your 100-year-old channel’s service-model and rules? What other right, best questions about AS have you written down to think about?

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1. AmazonSupply is Just Warming Up!

AmazonBusiness, Index, Supply Chain Partners, ,

Don’t underestimate the amount and pace of the forthcoming innovations of AmazonSupply. Read our latest “Insight” (below) and then the support, deep-dive exhibit. If you aren’t stunned and looking at AS in a whole new light, I’ll be very surprised.

The news on AmazonSupply.com will continue to accelerate. They have recently increased their items for sale into 17 (and climbing?) “vertical” distribution channels in pursuit of “business-to-business” (B2B) sales. On May 8th Forbes Magazine published an article: “Amazon’s Wholesale Slaughter”, which was long on short-term hype, but short on long-term vision.

Because Amazon is the most innovative and channel-changing juggernaut ever, what we see today at AmazonSupply is just a beginning. Their mission statement suggests more to come: “to sell everything needed to rebuild civilization”.

How will AmazonSupply.com pressure your 100-year-old channel’s service-model and rules?

Continue reading 1. AmazonSupply is Just Warming Up! →