Ingram Micro Meets Cyber Monday
Even as distributors reinvent themselves for managed services and open source VARs, they aren’t ready to abandon their logistics heritage. A case in point: Ingram Micro says it will ship more than 3 million products during peak holiday weeks. Here’s how.
When you think Ingram Micro, you might not think consumer electronics. But the distribution giant says it has eight “advanced logistic centers” to move products. Terry Tysseland, senior VP of Operations and Supply, said that in the last eight weeks of a typical year, Ingram ships an estimated 300 items per minute. Ingram broke its own company record last year “when we filled more than 250,00 orders” the day after Black Friday. Ingram isn’t shy to toot its own horn about a 99.9 percent shipping accuracy, either.
Reality Check
But what’s the point? Why is Ingram Micro touting its distribution prowess right now — especially when the company has been pushing deeper into areas like managed services (with Ingram Micro Seismic)?
A few thoughts come to mind, but the one that sticks out is “consumer confidence.” With the recession still lingering, a small piece of news like this can subliminally boost confidence across the board that Ingram Micro is not only going to be shipping — and shipping well — but that people are buying enough to warrant them to “gear up” for the holiday season.
Money Matters
Meanwhile, Ingram rival Tech Data delivered an early holiday present of its own on Nov. 23, when the company announced quarterly profits more than doubled — thanks to aggressive cost cutting. Next up, Avnet is expected to brief Wall Street about its performance during an analyst and media day on Dec. 17. And Ingram Micro will present at three investor conferences in December.
In the meantime, distributors remain keenly focused on Cyber Monday sales, logistics and distribution.
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