As an industrial distributor, you probably get a few questions about disposable gloves.
If you’re comfortable answering them, terrific! That makes you a leader of the pack (vroom, vroom) and sets you up for lots of success. Gloves can be a lucrative addition to your business.
We often have conversations about this question with customers and partners, and while the precise answer may vary, we aim to keep it simple: We help our customers buy the right disposable glove for the job. And we effectively reduce risk with expert services and tools.
Since the company’s founding in 1988—yes, in March we’re coming up on 35 years in business—we’ve been helping our clients with all aspects of global procurement, supply chain, and operations to ensure quality and efficiency in the single-use glove market.
Second of two parts
Most economists are in agreement on one word to describe what 2023 holds for the U.S. economy: uncertainty. The divergence of views on what will happen is as large as it has been in many years.
A steady drumbeat of “recession is coming” rattled around the public consciousness for the last half of 2022. The Federal Reserve raised interest rates seven times last year in an effort to throttle inflation. Underperforming stock markets have not helped matters.
Last of three parts
Most of AMMEX’s distributor partners are experienced salespeople who regularly move large quantities of product, including gloves. But how do they rack up steady glove sales at scale, month in and month out?
If they’re in the know, they put our Sales Acceleration Solution (SAS)™, which has a proven track record of helping distributors sell more gloves, to work for them.
Second of three parts
Most distributor partners of AMMEX count disposable gloves as only a small percentage of their overall business. That figure is between 2% and 5%, depending on which industry they’re servicing.
That may not seem like much emphasis. But in truth, success is less about how much significance you attach to the percentage of gloves in your overall catalog. What really matters is market penetration and the percentage of overall glove spend you’ve captured within your customer base, says Corey Townsell, vice president of sales at AMMEX.
First of three parts
All things considered, it’s relatively simple to get started selling gloves and pick up a few thousand bucks in the process. Get your reseller certificate, knock on some doors, lay out a good spiel, and you too can move some nitrile or latex or vinyl product.
But how do you grow those sales to $10,000, $100,000, or more? Where does the magic kick in and elevate the proceedings to a higher plane?
Latex allergies get a lot of attention, especially in the disposable glove business. An important part of finding “the right glove for the job” is determining whether the person wearing said glove is allergic to natural rubber latex proteins, and recommending substitutes if necessary.
In truth, such allergies are rare. They affect approximately 1 percent of the general population and 8 to 12 percent of healthcare workers. (Latex allergies become more prevalent in people who are exposed to the material regularly, and most medical-grade gloves are made from latex.)
Why do prices of disposable gloves vary so much between products, and between those who sell them?
Why does inventory come and go? (Those hybrid vinyl/nitrile gloves that you may have loved during the pandemic are much harder to find now.)
The disposable glove market is in a vastly different position from the last couple of years. Yes, it’s still dynamic and unpredictable, but opportunities for glove distributors are everywhere.
The first two years of the pandemic caused havoc for everybody, and the glove market was certainly no exception. A global surge in demand for gloves sent manufacturers scrambling to keep up. The resulting fallout from being unable to deliver needed product pushed every manufacturer to increase production capacity. That led to ample supply coming online in the second half of 2022.
Is there a recession ahead? Some doomsayers believe there is.
Economist Nouriel Roubini, who correctly predicted the 2008 financial crisis, sees a “long and ugly” recession occurring in the U.S. and globally at the end of 2022 that could last all of 2023. (He also has a new book to sell, so keep that in mind.)
