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Operations

Beyond the Spreadsheet: Transforming Order & Quote Processes

The most successful implementations start with clear process mapping, identifying the highest-impact automation opportunities first.
  • Brian Hopkins
  • July 8, 2025
AI in Distribution

Parspec Raises $20 Million to Bring AI Automation to Construction Distributors

Parspec expects both the distributor and contractor tools to be commercially available by the end of 2025. Pilot programs are currently underway.
  • Distribution Strategy Group
  • July 8, 2025
Operations

Critical Skills for Front-Line Leaders in Distribution Part One

Frontline leadership isn’t about reports and titles. It’s about earning trust, solving real problems, and keeping the operation moving day in and day out.
  • Will Quinn
  • July 7, 2025

Upcoming Programs

  • Upcoming Program

Using Technology to Drive Profits and Productivity

Join us on July 16, 9 PT/12 ET, as we discuss how to turn technology strategies into tangible outcomes.
Register Now
  • Upcoming Program

How Distributors are Solving Supply Chain Challenges

Join us on July 23, 9 PT/12 ET, as we discuss how companies are building more resilient, agile supply chains.
Register Now
  • Upcoming Program

State of Distributor Sales

Join us on July 30, 2025 at 9PT/12ET as we delve into the state of distributor sales to enhance your customer experience.
Register Now
Operations

The New Rules of Profitability in Wholesale Distribution

Today’s profit leaders aren’t necessarily the biggest players, they’re the swiftest.
  • Brian Hopkins
  • July 1, 2025
Strategy

2025 Has Been Rocky for Many Distributors, But Outlook Could Be Rosy

Analysts say distributors remain attractive to investors in volatile periods because of their flexibility and early economic recoveries.
  • Don Davis
  • June 20, 2025
warehouse-master-distributors-and-marketplaces
AI in Distribution

The Evolving Warehouse Function: 2025-2030

By 2030, AI-driven systems will orchestrate warehouse operations with precision that exceeds even the best human coordinators.
  • Brian Hopkins
  • June 19, 2025

Recent Reports

State of CRM and Sales Analytics in Distribution

2025 State of Technology in Distribution

From Silos to Synergy: Transforming B2B Distribution with Automation and Collaboration

Optimizing B2B eCommerce for Distributors: Strategies for Scalability, Supply Chain Visibility and Digital Integration

How Culture Can Be Cultivated on Zoom (with John Tisera, CEO of Johnstone Supply)
Wholesale Change Show

Wholesale Change: How Culture Can Be Cultivated on Zoom (with John Tisera, CEO of Johnstone Supply)

John Tisera, president/CEO of Johnstone Supply, joined Ian Heller and Jonathan Bein in this episode to talk about how the distributor has built and
  • Ian Heller
  • December 2, 2020
High-Tech AND High-Touch: How Distributors Can Win in a B2C World
Digital Strategy

High-Tech AND High-Touch: How Distributors Can Win in a B2C World

If you aren’t building high-tech platforms that make it hyper-efficient for your customers to execute simple transactions, you’re losing the game. But simply adopting
  • Ian Heller
  • December 2, 2020
3 Technologies That Deliver 10X Returns for Distributors
Digital Strategy

3 Technologies That Deliver 10X Returns for Distributors

Based on our extensive work with distributors, we distill your list of technology choices to the investments that we believe can have the greatest
  • Jonathan Bein
  • December 1, 2020
How to Get Your Brand Out of the Graveyard
Distribution Marketing

How to Get Your Brand Out of the Graveyard

You’ll know you’re stuck in a brand graveyard if your customers only buy a small percentage of your product offering, only buy big products
  • Jonathan Bein
  • November 30, 2020
If Marketplaces are a Must, Should You Build Your Own?
Digital Strategy

If Marketplaces are a Must, Should You Build Your Own?

Independent alternatives to third-party marketplaces like Amazon are emerging, and some distributors have found success selling through them. This has many wondering if they
  • Ian Heller
  • November 25, 2020
How Fastenal is Outperforming the Market in 2020
Digital Strategy

How Fastenal is Outperforming the Market in 2020

Fastenal is outperforming its peer distributors in 2020 despite the recession. They’ve recovered quickly by capitalizing on their end market and excellent company culture,
  • Jonathan Bein
  • November 23, 2020
AI vs BI in Sales: Why Distributors Should Choose Artificial Intelligence
Digital Strategy

AI vs BI in Sales: Why Distributors Should Choose Artificial Intelligence

Today, distributors can choose from an array of sales tools that all promise data-driven results. In theory, this should help distributors understand their customers
  • Benj Cohen
  • November 20, 2020
Leverage Customer Loyalty Programs for Long-Term Growth
Wholesale Change Show

Wholesale Change: Leverage Customer Loyalty Programs for Long-Term Growth (November 18, 2020)

Learn why loyalty is a powerful emotion and how to leverage it in B2B, best practices in designing loyalty and incentive programs, and how
  • Ian Heller
  • November 18, 2020
Home Depot
B2B eCommerce

Home Depot Buys Back HD Supply; MRO Distributors Get Squeezed

Home Depot pays a 25% premium for an enterprise value of $8 billion to reacquire HD Supply, putting branch-based distributors square in the middle
  • Ian Heller
  • November 18, 2020
Prevent Customers From Leaving You
Distribution Sales Strategy

Prevent Customers From Leaving You

For some companies, an annual increase of 1% in customer retention over each of the next ten years results in 20% increase in annual
  • Robert Kelley
  • November 12, 2020
Why a Great Shopping Experience is More Important Than the Checkout Experience
Wholesale Change Show

Wholesale Change: Why a Great Shopping Experience is More Important Than the Checkout Experience (November 11, 2020)

While offering a transactional website has become a must-have in today’s environment, enhancing your shopping functionality has become even more critical to meeting customer
  • Ian Heller
  • November 12, 2020
The Difference Between Alibaba and Amazon: How Alibaba’s B2B Platform Works for Distributors
Digital Strategy

The Difference Between Alibaba and Amazon: How Alibaba’s B2B Platform Works for Distributors

John Caplan talks about how Alibaba’s customer-focused business model may be a better digital marketplace for U.S. distributors than Amazon Business.
  • Ian Heller
  • November 10, 2020
The Minefields of Building Companies through Acquisition
Distribution Industry Analysis

The Minefields of Building Companies through Acquisition

A study of both successful and disastrous consolidations finds 10 common mistakes that drive employee misunderstanding and mistrust after the deal.
  • Bill Wade
  • November 4, 2020
Why Distributors, Their Suppliers and Customers All Believe Disruption is Real
Wholesale Change Show

Wholesale Change: Why Distributors, Their Suppliers and Customers All Believe Disruption is Real (November 4, 2020)

Everyone recognizes the effects of emerging technologies, as well as well-capitalized competitors, on the channel and on their businesses.
  • Ian Heller
  • November 4, 2020
2 Trends to Watch in B2B: Item Recognition and Voice Ordering
Digital Strategy

2 Trends to Watch in B2B: Item Recognition and Voice Ordering

This post previews some of the key findings in the third report based on our research for the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors into how
  • Jonathan Bein
  • November 2, 2020
Distributors’ Quarterly Checkup: Notable Results, Surprises and Market Moves
Wholesale Change Show

Wholesale Change: Distributors’ Quarterly Checkup: Notable Results, Surprises and Market Moves (October 28, 2020)

Wholesale Change hosts Ian Heller and Jonathan Bein dig into public distributors’ earnings reports from across segments to bring you insights into how your
  • Ian Heller
  • October 29, 2020
Pull Your eCommerce System Back from the Jaws of Defeat
B2B eCommerce

Pull Your eCommerce System Back from the Jaws of Defeat

The increase in digital buying behavior is here to stay, pandemic or no – especially as the number of millennial decision-makers rises. If your
  • Dean Mueller
  • October 28, 2020
A Conversation with John Caplan, President of North America & Europe, Alibaba
Wholesale Change Show

Wholesale Change Show: A Conversation with John Caplan, President of North America & Europe, Alibaba (October 21, 2020)

In this episode Ian Heller welcomed Alibaba’s John Caplan to the Wholesale Change Show to discuss Alibaba’s capabilities and the marketplace’s long-term plans.
  • Ian Heller
  • October 22, 2020
How to Fend Off Amazon with AI Strategies of Your Own
B2B eCommerce

How to Fend Off Amazon with AI Strategies of Your Own

Amazon Business is projected to make $52 billion in sales by 2023. For distributors to fend off this AI-powered giant, they’ll need to understand
  • Benj Cohen
  • October 22, 2020
When Your Sales Team Sabotages Your eCommerce Initiative
B2B eCommerce

When Your Sales Team Sabotages Your eCommerce Initiative

When salespeople are slow to embrace ecommerce, they miss opportunities that not only hurt the company, but the customers they are trying to help.
  • Dean Mueller
  • October 19, 2020
Local SEO for B2B: How Distributors Can Optimize for Local Search
Digital Strategy

Local SEO for B2B: How Distributors Can Optimize for Local Search

If you are a distributor on a quest to get on page one of Google, don’t neglect the importance of being found locally. Here’s
  • Dean Mueller
  • October 16, 2020
Amazon’s AI-Powered Secrets to Success (and How Distributors Can Respond)
Wholesale Change Show

Wholesale Change Show: Amazon’s AI-Powered Secrets to Success – and How Distributors Can Respond (October 14, 2020)

Learn how Amazon uses AI and how distributors can fend off this B2B juggernaut with their own strategy around product recommendations, search relevancy and
  • Ian Heller
  • October 15, 2020
Which distribution verticals are vulnerable to disruption
Distribution Technology

Why Some Distribution Verticals Are More Vulnerable to Disruption

To understand how vulnerable a distribution vertical is to disruption, look at the relationship between the product category’s complexity and the ability for the
  • Jonathan Bein
  • October 13, 2020
The-Real-Reason-Digital-Fails---Its-Not-Because-CEOs-are-Dinosaurs-Blog-Featured
Wholesale Change Show

Wholesale Change Show: The Real Reason Digital Fails: It’s Not Because CEOs are Dinosaurs (October 7, 2020)

Successful ecommerce in B2B is wildly more complex than in retail. Multiple users, workflows, e-procurement, punchout, email-to-order conversion and many more challenges make it
  • Ian Heller
  • October 8, 2020
Burned But Not Destroyed: How Crises Foster Innovation
Distribution Industry Analysis

Burned But Not Destroyed: How Crises Foster Innovation

Recently, the Atlantic posted a story about the resilience of human societies in the face of disaster. The author made a strong historical argument
  • Bill Wade
  • October 7, 2020
How Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ) Can Solve Small-Order Problems
Distribution Sales Strategy

How Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ) Can Solve Small-Order Problems

Setting a Minimum Order Quantity is quick, predictable, and perfectly suited for the V-shape recovery. It’s a great strategy for distributors that have taken
  • Randy MacLean
  • October 1, 2020
High Tech vs. High Touch: The Future-Proof Distributor is Both
Wholesale Change Show

Wholesale Change Show: High Tech vs. High Touch – The Future-Proof Distributor is Both (September 30, 2020)

In this episode we explain why the old assumption that distributors can be “High Tech” or “High Touch” is a destructive myth.
  • Ian Heller
  • September 30, 2020
Why Sales Reps Go Straight to Price: 3 Challenges in Selling Value
Distribution Sales Strategy

Why Sales Reps Go Straight to Price: 3 Challenges in Selling Value

We talk a lot about the importance of sales reps’ selling value, rather than going directly to price.
  • Debbie Paul
  • September 29, 2020
Want to Succeed with Industrial Vending? Stop Making These 5 Mistakes
Operations

Want to Succeed with Industrial Vending? Stop Making These 5 Mistakes

Read about five common mistakes distributors make when considering and offering vending and inventory control solutions, and how to overcome them.
  • Mark Hill
  • September 25, 2020
Fix Your eCommerce System
B2B eCommerce

Wholesale Change Show: Fix Your eCommerce System (September 23, 2020)

Do you feel like your ecommerce platform is broken – not delivering the ROI you expected? You’re not alone.
  • Jonathan Bein
  • September 24, 2020
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