Distributors, reps and manufacturers at last week’s NAED Eastern Conference in Marco Island, FL, expect steady market growth in 2019, and none of the attendees with whom EM spoke at the meeting took issue with Electrical Wholesaling’s 2019 national forecast for +6.1% growth next year. Some attendees were expecting a point less, but said +6% growth was quite possible.
With 547 attendees, the meeting had a good buzz to it. The lobby and hallways at the JW Marriott Marco Island Beach Resort, a popular NAED destination since the 1980s, always seemed filled with impromptu meetings. It was a good showing, considering that A-D and IMARK had just held their national meetings and that at times the NAED Eastern has struggled with attendance because of its proximity to these industry events.
Notable were the 49 independent manufacturers’ reps in attendance, and some lobby lizards joked that with so many reps around the conference felt like a NEMRA meeting.
News of GE’s most recent divestitures broke during the conference, and speculation of what’s next for the company provided some welcome grist for the rumor mill at the meeting.
—Jim Lucy in Marco Island, FL