The electrical industry's grand scheme to delete transaction costs from the distribution channel and secure a share of the e-commerce future holds lessons for all distributors.

The Industry Data Warehouse and IDXchange extranet are the first products of a new association that brings together electrical manufacturers, distributors and associated business partners to develop the electrical industry's electronic commerce infrastructure. The system this group has created may prove to be a useful model for other distribution channels. The story of how the electrical industry put it together certainly offers a few lessons in building an industrywide solution to common problems.