NetPlus Alliance accelerated the first round of its 2019 rebate distribution, sending electronic payments to 180 distributor members that opted to receive their funds via ACH on April 17. The goal was to get these funds into the hands of NetPlus distributors as they navigate the uncertainty of the global COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic fallout.
"We need to support each other so that we all come through this together,” said NetPlus Alliance President Jennifer Murphy. “I take great pride in the tradition of personally signing every check to our members, however, we realized early in the COVID-19 crisis that we needed to get our members’ rebates out to them as soon as we could to help support their businesses. Our team worked efficiently to collect ACH information from distributors that wanted to receive an electronic transfer.” The remaining 220 NetPlus members will receive a paper check in the mail next week.
“We are thankful the NetPlus team got the rebates out so quickly,” said Cheryl Hoffman Coniglio, director of operations for C&C Supply Company, Woodbury, NJ. “It really shows a lot of dedication to distributor members. While we are bracing to see what the next several months may bring, we are glad to have NetPlus as a partner along the way.”
The NetPlus Alliance team is working remote, but continues to provide critical guidance to their members, sharing relevant economic and financial information, as well as important updates from NetPlus preferred suppliers. “During this difficult time, our team has been 100% committed to supporting our distributors and suppliers: answering calls, helping to connect distributors to other distributors and NetPlus suppliers to find much-needed PPE product for their customers,” Murphy said.
In the latest NetPlus Alliance Industry Outlook survey, produced by 3 Aspens Media for NetPlus members, about half of distributor members reported that they expect second-quarter sales for their businesses to be down significantly (more than 8%), and 18% expect sales to be down between 3% and 7%.
“Many members had begun taking significant steps to grow their businesses this year, and then the COVID-19 shutdowns started taking hold, throwing those well-thought-out plans out the window,” said Dan Judge, Chairman of NetPlus Alliance. “I think the good news for our industry is that every company that responded to our survey indicated that their business is considered ‘essential’ in their respective state and 100% reported that they are still operating.”
“We are in a period of unbelievable disruption from both a business perspective, as well as a personal one. But this industry will get through this.”
NetPlus recorded year-over-year growth in 2019, with member purchases from NetPlus suppliers up 8.5% from 2018.