By Dan Judge
In our latest exclusive NetPlus Alliance Industry Outlook, our distributor members told us they were concerned about swings in the economy – and keeping up with business. These two seemingly opposite concerns shows me that there’s a lot of uncertainty about what’s coming next, probably due to next year’s presidential election, the tariff situation, and the political landscape in general.
I’m looking forward to talking about these important issues and how they’re affecting our members at next week’s Annual Meeting in Dallas.
The good news is that our members and the market at large are growing, and most distributors expect to continue to do so through the end of the year – even if it’s not at the same level as 2018, which was a record year for NetPlus Alliance. There have been some signs of softening in the market, especially in markets like oil and gas. Lousy weather also dampened results in recent months.
But for many distributors, growth this year has been steady. About 68% of distributors responding to our survey increased sales year over year in the second quarter. And the majority expect sales to be up or about the same through the end of the year.
Distributors attributed the growth to new business, new product categories, new programs and new salespeople. NetPlus Alliance supports all of these areas for distributors through stronger channel partnerships, individual and group growth rebate programs, progressive marketing and sales education.
The NetPlus Alliance Industry Outlook is a quarterly report based on a survey of NetPlus distributor members, as well as interviews, economic data and public distributor reporting. It is an exclusive benefit for NetPlus Alliance distributor members and preferred suppliers.
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