State of POS - Manufacturer Insights

Commissions are the life blood of an independent manufacturer representatives. Of key importance is being compensated for sales in their territory for your sales of your products.

The increase in the number of RDCs/CDCs in the industry, industry consolidation and e-commerce, makes this more challenging, and more important to reps. If sales/purchases are not consummated at a branch, it can be difficult to determine whom receives appropriate credit. POS reporting is essential to administering this process and ensuring commissions are fairly distributed.

NEMRA is updating its research on the state of POS reporting in the electrical industry and will compare versus its 2018 findings. The goal is to better understand the state, the successes, the challenges and to provide advocacy and thought leadership on this subject.

NEMRA has engaged Channel Marketing Group to assist with this research. The following is a brief survey to gain your perspective on the issue. Results will be shared at the upcoming NEMRA conference.

All input is confidential. The survey should take you 5 minutes to complete.

Thank you for your time and input.

First we would appreciate your definition of POS.

Question Title

* 1. Please select which of these statements most closely defines POS for you

POS means "place of purchase" and is "where the material is purchased from" (distributor branch location). Some people call this "point of purchase".

POS means "place of shipment" and is where the material is being shipped from (or to if coming from a CDC / RDC). This is typically a branch location. This broadens the definition to include RDCs/CDCs.

POS means "point of sale" and is where the material is being shipped to (customer location or project - could be expressed as a zip code or county). "Point" is defined as the customer. This information could include customer name and/or SIC, however, that is at the discretion of the manufacturer and distributor.

POS means to me ...

Question Title

* 2. As a manufacturer, are you concerned with POT (point of transfer is defined as between distributor branches or from distributor RDC/CDC to distributor branch)?

Yes

Don't know

Why should your reps be concerned about POT?

Question Title

* 3. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the most important, how important is it to you that your local representative (not only the agency but the individual salesperson) be compensated accurately and on a timely basis for sales in their territory?

Clear

i We adjusted the number you entered based on the slider’s scale.