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Insights

How the channel actually works.

Plain writing on the operating layer of US big-box retail and pro-channel distribution: scorecards, line reviews, channel structure, and the commercial talent that decides whether a supplier holds its position.

Engagements

When to bring in a fractional commercial leader instead of hiring one

A permanent commercial leader takes months to find and longer to ramp. Sometimes that is the right answer and sometimes it is an expensive way to delay a decision. How to tell which situation you are in, what a fractional or interim engagement actually costs you in control, and the failure modes on both sides.

Read the piece, 12 minutes →
Channel Advisory

The commercial model that breaks first in MRO and industrial distribution

Coverage, pricing, and national accounts are where distribution margin is quietly lost. How MRO and industrial distributors misprice service, how coverage models decay, what actually happens on a national account that looks like growth, and the operating disciplines that hold margin.

Read the piece, 13 minutes →
Supplier Talent

The national account manager who survives big-box, and how to spot one

The wrong commercial hire on a big-box account is not a quiet failure. It is a missed reset and a weakened position. What the seat demands, the profiles that survive and the ones that struggle, the interview questions that separate them, and how to structure the loop.

Read the piece, 12 minutes →
Retail Channel Advisory

How to prepare for a line review, and what the category team is actually deciding

A line review is not a sales pitch. It is a category decision made against a plan. What the category team weighs, the terms conversation suppliers forget, how to answer channel conflict before it is raised, and a ninety-day preparation timeline.

Read the piece, 12 minutes →
Retail Channel Advisory

What a big-box supplier scorecard measures, and how to stay ahead of it

Fill rate, OTIF, chargebacks, returns, and compliance. A plain explanation of the metrics big-box retailers publish to their vendors, how the math works against you, why suppliers get flagged, and the operating cadence that keeps you off the watch list.

Read the piece, 11 minutes →

Want this applied to your category?

Thirty minutes on your channel, your bench, and where the next line review will find you.

Tell me what is happening in the U.S.