Trend Here’s to a better 2022! By Dave Doherty, President, Digi-Key Electronics 2


021 has been a bit of a year, bringing both challenges and opportunities to the high-service distribution industry. Distributors, suppliers and customers


alike have all faced new and sometimes unforeseen obstacles the past year, with unpredictable market conditions upending ‘business as usual’ in many areas. One of the biggest lessons of


2021 is that the market can be more unpredictable than anyone thought. Te year brought many challenges to the electronic components industry, including decreased production due to the Covid pandemic, extended shipping times due to delays at ports, natural disasters, difficulties accessing raw resources – and everything in between – all through a time when customer demand for parts has never been higher. Everyone admits that 2021 was difficult


for customers; many could not get hold of some parts, which in turn led to increased order volumes.


Rising to the occasion Distributors are constantly developing new ways to make it easier for customers to engage digitally from anywhere in the world. Tis includes localising their presence in markets with local language, currency and support hours, as well as fast shipping times, in order to remove barriers for global customers. For many companies, and particularly


those based in the US, it’s tempting to conduct business in a single language, using a single currency. However, as our industry continues on its global trajectory, distributors must make stronger investments in supporting customers worldwide with a seamless experience. Today, Digi-Key supports 26 local


currencies and does business in 21 local languages – numbers that will continue


to grow along with business. In the past year we at Digi-Key continued to invest in warehouse capacity, digital offerings and new markets, to best serve our customers, despite the adversity the year has brought.


Looking ahead We cannot predict the future, but past experiences are useful in seeing what might lie ahead. We still expect challenging times, but also that orders should return to more realistic levels in late 2022. In many ways, the industry is cyclical


– the demands and challenges from 2021 will likely return in new ways in the future, so the key is to be better prepared with the new building blocks put in place over the past year. Beyond investing in inventory, it’s also


important for high-service distributors to find creative ways to enhance their offerings and services, to maintain high levels of customer and supplier satisfaction. For example, Digi-Key has increased its capital infrastructure investments in recent years to scale capacity to keep up with skyrocketing demand, and those investments will continue as the business grows. Tese investments include the new Product Distribution Center expansion in Tief


04 December 2021/January/2022 www.electronicsworld.co.uk


River Falls, US, more robust and predictive web search functionality, higher inventory levels and increased automation in its warehouses, which all benefit customers by providing an easy and efficient research, shopping and delivery experience. Digi-Key has also invested in


innovations including cut tape printing, offering more products and services within the ecosystem and expanding the Digi-Key Marketplace, providing customers around the world with even more reason to make Digi-Key their first stop in the design process. Investments like these help distributors


weather ‘storms’ seen in 2021, and leave them in good stead for 2022. Adversities experienced in 2021 can


either divide or bring people together. Te whole world had a major curve ball thrown at it with the pandemic, but we can look back and see how it improved our ability to communicate and deliver on a global scale, pulling the entire industry closer together. Te impact of 2021 on the entire industry increased confidence and trust gained in each other and our ability to meet a crisis head on. Digi-Key looks forward to our


customers’ innovations in 2022, we are excited to help the world’s ideas come to life.


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