“Why do we do it? I’ve been in the industry 32 years,” said Scott Ritchey, vice president of Plumbers Supply Co. in Louisville, Kentucky. “In the last five to six years, margin erosion for distributorships has really escalated. Prices keep lowering to compete, and driving out folks. You have to look outside the box with these strategic alliances.”
The “it” in this case isn’t the goal of working hard to succeed in the distributor business or even joining forces with other distributors. Ritchey is talking about the measures and programs his company invests in with one objective: assisting HVAC contractors in building and maintaining their own successful businesses.