> ERA Quick Connections – September V2
September 2020, Volume 2
ERA’s Quick Connections is issued twice a month. ERA invites you to share recent newsworthy items and calendar dates with your fellow members at info@era.org.
Monthly POS Reports
Budde Marketing, which provides monthly POS Index reports to ERA members, issued its latest summary, running from January 2018 through July 2020. Visit era.org to view the new index. According to the new report, July POS activity declined, with July 2020 being 8 percent lower than July 2019, 5 percent lower than July 2018 and 8 percent below the index base point of January 2018. On a positive note, July was 6 percent above the worst month of the year (May) and the stock market continues to improve. There still is a great deal of uncertainty for 2020 POS for the balance of the year and forecasting 2020 POS remains a questionable exercise. For details on Budde Marketing’s services, visit BuddeMarketing.com.
Industry News
Global shipments of wearable devices are expected to total 396 million units in 2020. This marks a 14.5 percent increase from the 345.9 million units shipped in 2019. Read more at SGBMedia.
The Trump administration has placed new restrictions on exports to Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), one of China’s most advanced makers of computer chips. The measure, which could cut SMIC off from the American software and other technology it needs to make its products, comes as the Trump administration takes a harsher stance against Chinese technology companies that it has deemed a national security threat. Read more at NYTimes.
The worldwide edge computing market will reach $250.6 billion in 2024 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.5 percent over the 2019–2024 forecast period. “While no technology market has been spared from the economic impact of COVID-19, edge market suppliers are poised to experience sustained growth throughout the forecast from enterprise and service provider investments,” said Marcus Torchia of IDC’s Customer Insights & Analysis group. Read more at IDC.
Vendor revenue from sales of IT infrastructure products for cloud environments, including public and private cloud, increased 34.4 percent year over year in the second quarter of 2020 (2Q20). Investments in traditional, non-cloud, IT infrastructure declined 8.7 percent year over year in 2Q20. Read more at BusinessWire.
Women in Electronics (WE) is hosting its 4th Annual Leadership Conference on Nov. 10. The event agenda will cover relevant topics, including silent issues that impact productivity and profits, unconscious bias awareness, navigating interactive virtual presentations, reaching end users digitally, thriving through change, and industry innovation. For more information, visit WE.
ERA News
The 2021 ERA Conference will be a fully virtual event. The virtual conference is tentatively scheduled March 1-3, 2021, with final dates and conference program to be finalized in the upcoming weeks. For more details or to pre-register for the event, visit ERAConference.
ERA congratulates Karin Derkacz on her anniversary of 50 years of service. Karin joined ERA on Sept. 28, 1970. During her five decades at ERA, Karin has been and remains the association’s touchpoint for countless current, former and retired members, including many multi-generation ERA families. Her contribution, loyalty and dedication are the foundation of our success and represent the true spirit of ERA. Read more ERANews.
ERA has released a new white paper, “An Introduction to Manufacturers’ Sales Reps: Building a Mutually Successful Foundation for Growth,” by Cesare Giammarco, Special Consultant to ERA. The white paper is now available on the ERA website. ERA member login is required to access the document.
Listen to the latest episode of ERA Talks featuring an interview with Moe Elghrawi, Sr. Electrical Engineer for Aptiv, and Chad Bryner, Sr. Hardware Engineer for Sentient Energy, who discuss the answers to what customers want and need from a manufacturers’ rep in the new abnormal. Tune in at ERATalks.
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