Last year was tough for distributors around the globe, with very few (if any) being spared the impacts of a global pandemic, mandatory shutdowns and the loss of life across all continents. In Europe, industrial and electronics distributors faced these challenges head-on, with the subsequent supply chain interruptions compounding those issues through most of 2020.
Coming into 2021, organizations across the board took a cautious-but-optimistic stance on what the next 12 months might bring. The global vaccine rollout and the flattening of the COVID curve in at least some (but not all) countries shed some hope on the distribution sector. But when shipping containers started piling up at the world’s ports, raw material costs increasing (steel, lumber and resin, to name a few), and a global chip shortage making headline news, distributors were again forced to think about how they could best ride out the storm.
