DISRUPTIVE
FORCES
Shaping the
Distribution Landscape
BY MARK P. HUBBARD
W
hen I am not consid-
ering the stubborn
business question of
“…how to differentiate on the
sole basis of product features,
forms and functions?” I am
usually considering how chang-
es within distribution channels
are affecting the marketplace
for educational furniture, fix-
tures and equipment (FF&E).
A careful analysis and response
to the latter inquiry is, in my
view, far more complicated and
perhaps never more important.
6 essentials | winter 2019
In this article, I will attempt
to describe what I believe are the
most powerful and compelling forc-
es applying an increasing amount
of pressure upon the educational
furnishings and equipment mar-
ket. Please note, my thoughts are
offered with extraordinary respect
and appreciation for the degree of
complexity inherent to the design
of the education supply distribution
model.
There has been a sizable redis-
tribution of decision authority in
education FF&E. More than ever,
suppliers and distributors are ap-
pealing to chief academic officers,
chief technology officers, district
superintendents, school principals
and teachers to buy products and
services. Because these relatively
new customer types are less likely
than their predecessors to make
price the most important variable in
the FF&E decision calculus, they
are more likely to gather a broad-
er data set. As a result, buyers are
spending more time researching in-
dependently, collecting more input
from cohorts and accessing a wider
range of digital resources. Accord-
ing to a July 2017 survey done by
Trust Radius, 78% of buyers said
they spend more time researching
purchases than in the previous five
years; 75% said that they use more
sources than predecessor to re-
search and evaluate purchases; and
52% said more people are helping
to make purchase decisions for
their company.
Responsively, the newest