ISG distributes Q1 rebates, announces awards

Independent Suppliers Group (ISG) has announced the distribution of Q1 2023 rebates to its members.

The total paid out was almost $7.3 million, a 25 percent increase over the same quarter last year. The group said these quarterly rebates are “an end result of buying direct and selling brands.”

“The ISG vendor rebates and the backend funds are a significant part of our bottom line,” said Russ Haley, VP at ISG member Stinson’s. “They are an important part of the true cost of goods and, being a stocking dealer, we pay attention to them to make decisions on what we stock and how we control our first in search.”

ISG’s Q2 2023 rebate distribution is scheduled for mid-September.

Meanwhile, the buying group has announced the winners of the annual awards for its Connexions contract furniture initiative.

The awards ceremony took place at the recent Connexions Grow conference in Atlanta, Georgia. The winners were:

• Vendor of the Year 2022: Group Lacasse

• Largest Percentage Increase Vendor 2022: Lesro

• Dealer of the Year 2022: COS

• Small Dealer of the Year 2022: Ideal Office Worx (formerly Bumbarger’s)

• Lifetime Achievement Award: Norman Lampert, Eurotech

“The Connexions annual meeting is so valuable because of the opportunity to network with manufacturers, likeminded

Promotions at SPR

Wholesaler S.P. Richards (SPR) has announced two senior promotions.

Charles McLaughlin has been promoted from marketing communications manager to senior marketing communications manager. In this role, McLaughlin—who joined SPR in 2021—will be instrumental in driving the company’s marketing communications strategy forward.

Meanwhile, Brian Moore—who also joined the wholesaler two years ago—has been promoted to senior category marketing manager. He will be responsible for developing innovative marketing approaches to all of SPR’s product categories.

dealers and industry leaders,” said Tom Triplett of Triplett Office Solutions. “The time together viewing innovative new products, combined with the collaboration and knowledge sharing to gain insights into the state of the industry, emerging trends and exchange of best practices, gives us the ability to lead, and be ahead of the pace of change to develop and grow our business with our partners.”

Kevin Glynn, EVP at Groupe Lacasse added: “The one-on-one customer-facing format provided manufacturers like Groupe Lacasse the access to directly address dealer members’ needs, challenges and opportunities. The conference also featured a presentation by Solomon Coyle, whose granular and data-driven material provided insightful context and predictive analysis to both the short and long-term future of the contract furnishings industry. Overall, the conference successfully fostered an environment of idea sharing and collaborative problem solving by actively listening and responding to one another in real time—especially critical in a historically challenging business environment.”