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00:00:16.000Foreign. Welcome back to Distribution Unpacked. I'm Adam Fox, and I am so excited to be sitting next to a colleague and I think my new boss, Glenn Moore. Hey, Adam, how you doing? Great.
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00:00:17.000How are you?
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00:00:23.000Great. So, Glenn, let's get everybody up to speed. You've been back in this, in the wholesale space for what, like a year and a half now?
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00:00:25.000Yes. Since joining sp.
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00:00:26.000That's awesome.
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00:00:26.000Excited to be here.
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00:00:32.000So. So tell everybody kind of the background, where you came from, kind of just all the great things you've been up to.
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00:01:05.000My life quickly is professionally. I spent 12 years in the health insurance industry in sales and marketing, so cut my teeth there. Had an opportunity to join the Quill division of Staples in 2000, and from there went to United Stationers. Ascendant left Ascendant after the Sycamore purchase, went into an adjacent industry in the print finishing industry for five years. Also was a pinnacle dealer in that time, which was fun to be on that side of the business. And then here I am.
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00:01:15.000That's awesome. So if I remember correctly, you know, you and your lovely wife relocated to the greater Atlanta area for this role. Triplets. Yes. And everyone has adjusted well.
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00:01:17.000Yes, all good. Thanks.
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00:01:32.000Awesome. That's great. So since you've been back, you came back, you know, leading our merchandising organization and recently with, you know, Jack Rean's retirement, obviously taking over marketing and supply chain, what, in your perspective, what's been the most fun, the most challenging, what are you kind of seeing?
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00:02:01.000What an exciting time to come back into this space, drinking from a fire hose with all the changes going on in the industry. And I think those are having obviously profound impact on the industry. And I think about it as either coming together or coming apart. Right. So we've got vendors coming together last year, the Tops Mead, or recently Clorox Gojo and the Clorox Purell ProCare.
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00:02:02.000Sure.
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00:02:39.000CMG. Yeah, it is. It is, but it'll roll off the tongue soon enough. And we've got, you know, CNG Purchasing, SP Richards and putting us in a position to win in the marketplace and on the customer side, you know, Imperial Day Brady plus Imperial Brady or WB Mason and Millers, et cetera, et cetera. So we've got a lot of coming together, but then we have the situation with Ascendant and things coming apart, and it causes disruption in the marketplace. But that creates opportunity. And so, like I said, what an exciting time to come back into the industry and. And help navigate this company through them.
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00:02:57.000Yeah, I think that's So I think for our. For both our customers listening and our suppliers listening. Since you've been here, you have onboarded close to 4,000 new SKUs to the. To the assortment. Yeah. Done some great rationalization work of where things make sense. What's kind of been. From your perspective, what's been the most interesting part of that process?
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00:03:58.000The realization that we had some product gaps last year and so many. You're right. I think it was 4300 items that we added in 90 days last year to fill those product gaps in the assortment, strengthen what we were doing. A lot of that caused by Ascendant's decision to lead the office products category and channel. But that was great prep work for what's happening now. We only had to add, I think, less than 60 items to completely fill the gap in the Jansan space. And we are well positioned. We have the right products, the right brands. I like our depth of assortment, breadth of where we are. So that's great. On the merchandising side, we have some challenges on the supply chain side right now with all this disruption, new demand things coming at us, doing our best to improve our position, improve our service fill rates. We're making great progress. You know, I like where we are today much better than where we were a month ago.
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00:04:14.000And so in that period of time, we've also, you know, brought on Eric Goodwin, who's our new VP of supply chain, and he's getting very much in the weeds on stuff. From your perspective and his short period of time here, have we seen any changes that you want to talk about or things that we're looking at maybe a little bit differently today than we did in the past?
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00:04:57.000Yeah, yeah. Eric has made a huge impact in a short period of time. Brilliant guy. Look, we were doing a lot of the right things already. Right. We've been in the business a long time, but I think Eric, his biggest contribution right now is finding those additional things that we can do to be even better at what we're doing. Looking at velocity codes on items and putting a little bit different weighting on inventory position, really digging into the Manhattan system and how it works and how we optimize working with that system. How do we ingest usage and customer conversion data and make that impactful and meaningful?
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00:04:59.000Manhattan is our ordering platform.
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00:05:17.000That's correct. Demand signing. Yes, that's right. That's right. You know, and his vision, you know, will evolve. You've got buying, you've got planning, you've got analysis, and just bringing all of that stuff together in a way that lets us be nimble and more accurate in having the right inventory in the right place at the right time.
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00:05:32.000This is way more intense than FIFO because that was my extent of supply chain knowledge. So from our supplier community, what in your mind, what kind of separates a strategic supplier from what we would just call a generic, you know, transactional supplier? All our suppliers are critical.
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00:05:33.000Sure.
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00:05:37.000But some do rise to the top. And what's, what's the profile in your perspective from a strategic supplier?
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00:06:13.000Yeah, great question. So I think there's two things that, that separate those fundamentally, foundationally. You have to have alignment of philosophy of go to market. Like the two companies have to have a natural fit together to build anything strategic on. And then the second thing is engagement, the degree of engagement that happens us with the vendor, the vendor with us, with our customers through our channel. That starts to separate, I think a transactional relationship which can work out just great from a strategic one where two companies really, again, come together in the marketplace.
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00:06:23.000That's awesome. And from our customers, as they're listening to this and kind of hearing for the first time, what could they expect? A little bit different moving forward from the merchandising organization.
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00:07:00.000Yeah. So I think, you know, we also have hired a lot of new merchants. Yeah, this department has expanded, brought on, had a lot of great talent, brought on new talent. We're focused on the customer, we're focused on the products and the assortment that we see is working well in the marketplace. We rely heavily on voice of customers, customer feedback that we hear. Our vendor partners are great at sharing that information. So I think what our customers are going to continue to see, like those 4300 items that we added last year, we will do what we need to do to have the right product assortment to make them successful.
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00:07:29.000Yeah, I think that's fair. You know, one of the things you've been really critical about in executing at a high level since you got here is around sales enablement. And how do we support not only our customers, but really our sales organization to then for therefore drive enablement through our customers and how we can help them win in their area. So as we kind of look at 2027 into broader, broader focus, what's kind of your lens on what sales enablement from a merchandising, marketing or supply chain perspective could be?
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00:08:13.000Yeah, one, listen, we have an opportunity to improve communications. We're doing a lot of great things. We generate and create value. We just need to communicate it better so people understand the why what's going on? That's part of it. I think we also, the pilot, we partnered on this concept of these road shows that we're doing. And I've always maintained that, look, the magic happens out in the field, that intersection of us, our customers and our vendors. And when that engagement is high out in the field, I think good things happen. I've seen it over and over again. Enabling our salespeople and our customers to succeed through that engagement, I think is. Yeah.
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00:08:43.000And I think the road shows, you know, have been interesting because we've been able to take seven key suppliers who wanted to partner up early with us to work with our sales team in three different cities and really just understand where there's opportunities with customers. And I think, Glenn, you've brought, from my perspective, a great diligence around looking at data and understanding where there's opportunities, who's performing, who's underperforming, and kind of bridging that gap. And I think as we look forward to marketing in 2027 and what that could look like, what's your big vision or what do you think we should be looking for for 2027? I know you and I have talked a lot about it, but what's the future state look like?
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00:09:20.000Well, first of all, you have an excellent vision already. Thank you for this. I think when we're ready to talk more about the vertical markets, that you've identified those pillars and how we work with our vendors and customers to. To really leverage those. Those insights, those Personas, those, you know, how do we play in that space? How do we make it easier for our customers to go win in those things? That, that right there is, you know, a huge change for next year. I applaud you for it. And I think we're going to see great things come out of that.
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00:09:48.000I'm excited for. The team is doing really good work, and your support has been wonderful. So I think what are some of the biggest opportunities, you know, for merchandising, marketing, supply chain sports, as you kind of look in the new year, and as I think to your point, it's been 18 months or maybe a year of kind of a little bit of craziness with obviously what we're calling the phase one moment now, we're in a kind of phase two industries consolidation and change. You know, whiteboard. What are you seeing?
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00:10:46.000Yeah, I think I would welcome an opportunity for things to settle down for. For a minute, 300 skews at night, Just, just, just, just a couple seconds. No, because, look, I think the shape of demand and what's happening in our business is clearly been profoundly different. And so we're still chasing that, but it's starting to take shape. Right. And as that happens, then we can refine, we can hone, we can become more precise. The data will provide better, cleaner insights than right now when everything is moving around too much. And we can refine what we do and we can be even more laser focused, you know, get some of the foundation. When I think about merchandising, some of the life cycle management we can get back to and those fundamentals, assortment planning in a, in a more longer term view than reacting to changes in the marketplace.
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00:11:20.000Yeah, I think that's, that's fair. So I'm going to ask a topic that it's no shock to anyone, something I've been trying to get rid of for years, but I keep losing the battle. And you know where I'm going with this. For our customers listening and the supplier, I guess we still find value in a printed catalog. Yeah. What's your lens on, what that looks like? And I mean, obviously the 2027 one will ship in January. As we begin to think about 2028, we still believe that SB print is strong and alive. That also helps by who we're owned by. But what's your look at lens on? Does that shift a little bit as a change? Do we look at print a little differently?
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00:11:59.000Yeah, very simple. The more channels of contact and access you have to a customer, the better. So if I were sitting in the shoes of our customers, I would be looking at that. And in the conventional wisdom says you need seven, nine plus channels to really kind of maximize retention, to assist in your acquisition efforts, to stay top of mind, to begin to shape demand. So the more the better. Simple as that. And so print plays its part. That's an important channel even in the digital age.
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00:12:08.000Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I mean, it's still exciting to, you know, get a catalog in the mail. I don't know, get that the fall Brooks Brothers catalog become. And I still get excited about it.
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00:12:10.000Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I think it depends on the catalog, but.
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00:12:31.000Well, yeah, I mean, for sure. I mean, I know gardening is a big thing for you, I think. You know, I know we're going to air this hopefully right before Industry Week and Issa, which are coming up in November. Thoughts for you? Anything you're looking for, anything you want a customer to notice or, you know, a supplier to bring to the table or when we meet with them or any insights for you.
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00:13:07.000Yeah. Listen, I know there's disruption in the marketplace. SP Richards is working around the clock to smooth out the bumps of this change, to improve our service levels, to continue to create value for our customers, for our vendors. Things are getting incrementally better. So while not perfect. Listen, we welcome constructive feedback. We want to hear from our customers and from our vendors where we can do things better and, you know, in the spirit of partnership, that's what we want to do.
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00:13:14.000Yeah. I think the most important question for our customers and frankly, for our suppliers. Listening in. We know you're a big bourbon guy.
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00:13:15.000I don't know.
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00:13:16.000I'm not saying that in a bad way.
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00:13:17.000Yes.
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00:13:19.000Enjoy a good bourbon.
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00:13:20.000I appreciate it.
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00:13:22.000Fader brand.
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00:13:30.000Wow. I will say this right now, I'm actually exploring smoky scotches.
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00:13:32.000Okay. Tell us more.
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00:13:34.000And so that's really what people are going to remember. Yeah.
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00:13:35.000Yeah.
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00:13:53.000So what? I think it's funny. You get into the whiskey world and age statement, how old is the whiskey? All those other kind of things and scotch is certainly true, but the Laphroaig tenure, which isn't necessarily that old for a Scotch, but that's my jam right now.
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00:14:18.000Right. Well, that's exciting. I know nothing about any of this. I'm fascinated by that. Glenn, thank you so much for taking some time. It's exciting to have you here. You're actually one of the first senior executives that we've had on to have this kind of discussion with. Obviously, in the beginning, we've had Christy and Hina and some other great folks and hoping to do more of this. And again, welcome to the team and excited to see all the fun stuff we have going on. Great.
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00:14:31.000Thanks, Adam. Enjoyed it. Sam.
