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Google 2025 AI Business Trends
distribution
Google’s AI Trends Report – What It Means For Distributors  Google’s latest AI trends report identifies five forces reshaping business in 2025. For wholesale distributors, these aren’t just tech industry abstractions—they’re competitive realities
  • Josh Palubicki
  • November 25, 2025
AI in Distribution

Why Your AI Pilots Keep Failing (And Why That’s Actually Fine) 

Expect most pilots to fail. Plan for it. Budget for it.
  • Brian Hopkins
  • November 24, 2025
AI in Distribution

Proton.ai, Revenue Optics Partner to Update Distributors’ Inside Sales Model

Both companies are expanding to support additional customers.
  • Distribution Strategy Group
  • November 23, 2025

Upcoming Programs

  • Upcoming Program

AI News and Gurus: Strategic Insights Lead From Google

Join us on Dec 2, 2025 9PT/12ET as we explore AI and the B2B landscape with Patricia Velázquez, Strategic Insights Lead from Google.
Register Now
  • Upcoming Program

Breakthroughs in Warehouse and Logistics Technology

Join us on Dec. 3, 2025 at 9PT/12ET to discover how breakthroughs in warehouse and logistics technology are transforming supply chains and operations.
Register Now
  • Upcoming Program

How Midsize Distributors Leverage Technology to Compete

Join us on Dec 10, 2025 at 9PT/12ET to learn how midsize distributors modernize systems and use AI to boost efficiency, and growth.
Register Now
  • Upcoming Program

AI for Distributors: 2025 Review and 2026 Preview

Join us on Dec 17, 2025 at 9PT/12ET to explore Real Use Cases and What’s Coming Next for AI in distribution.
Register Now
AI in Distribution

Applied AI for Distributors 2026: Why You Can’t Afford to Sit Out

Attend the only event on real-world AI execution in distribution.
  • Distribution Strategy Group
  • November 20, 2025
AI in Distribution

AI Capex Surge Signals a New Operating Reality for Distributors

Procurement budgets are tightening as organizations redirect capital toward AI infrastructure.
  • Mark Brohan
  • November 19, 2025
news home depot
AI in Distribution

Home Depot Highlights New AI Blueprint Takeoff Tool as Housing Weakens

Home Depot is accelerating its tech investments in the Pro segment, highlighted by a new AI-powered material estimation tool.
  • Mark Brohan
  • November 18, 2025

Recent Reports

State of eCommerce

Navigating Distribution’s New Landscape in 2025

Strategic Approaches for Sustainable Growth

Best Practices to Compete in a Changing Market

2021 State of eCommerce in Distribution, Part 2: Distributors’ Playbook for eCommerce Success
B2B eCommerce

2021 State of eCommerce in Distribution, Part 2: Distributors’ Playbook for eCommerce Success

Distribution Strategy Group, formerly Real Results Marketing, conducted its ninth-annual State of eCommerce in Distribution survey from October-December 2020, updating the leading benchmark in
  • Dean Mueller
  • February 24, 2021
shopping cart overflowing with boxes
B2B eCommerce

Webinar: State of eCommerce in Distribution: Part 2

In this webinar, Part 2 in a series, Distribution Strategy Group’s experts provide a playbook on what to do in response to our survey
  • Dean Mueller
  • February 24, 2021
The role of associations in the distribution industry has evolved over the past decade as they work to add value for their members in a changing market marked by generational shift and consolidation. Ed Gerber, CEO of the Industrial Supply Association and distribution industry veteran, joins Distribution Strategy Group’s Ian Heller and Jonathan Bein for a look at how ISA is evolving to meet members’ needs in an unprecedented time.
Wholesale Change Show

Wholesale Change: The Role of Associations Amid Uncertainty (February 17, 2021)

In this episode, Ed Gerber, CEO of the Industrial Supply Association and distribution industry veteran, joined Distribution Strategy Group’s Ian Heller and Jonathan Bein
  • Ian Heller
  • February 18, 2021
B2B Customer Surveys: How to Get Actionable Feedback from Customers
Distribution Marketing

B2B Customer Surveys: How to Get Actionable Feedback from Customers

Distributors who regularly solicit their customers’ input via customer surveys gain important insights for decision-making.
  • Debbie Paul
  • February 17, 2021
When It Comes to Product Recommendations, B2B vs. B2C Matters
B2B eCommerce

When It Comes to Product Recommendations, B2B vs. B2C Matters

Many distributors are using product recommendation engines on their ecommerce websites originally designed for B2C. This isn’t sufficient for a distributor’s business model.
  • Benj Cohen
  • February 11, 2021
How Johnstone Supply Built Company Culture Over Zoom: A Conversation with President and CEO John Tisera
Distribution Industry Analysis

How Johnstone Supply Built Company Culture Over Zoom: A Conversation with President and CEO John Tisera

Johnstone Supply saw its largest sales month in company history in June 2020 after responding to the pandemic with innovations at a local level
  • Ian Heller
  • February 8, 2021
Distributors’ Quarterly Checkup: Notable Results, Surprises and Market Moves from 2020
Wholesale Change Show

Distributors’ Quarterly Checkup: Notable Results, Surprises and Market Moves from 2020 (February 3, 2021)

The Wholesale Change hosts Ian Heller and Jonathan Bein dug into public distributors’ earnings reports from Amazon, Grainger, Applied Industrial and Avnet.
  • Ian Heller
  • February 4, 2021
The War Between Sales and Marketing is Marketing’s Fault
Distribution Marketing

The War Between Sales and Marketing is Marketing’s Fault

Marketers need to learn that when sales and marketing fight, sales wins. Even when they’re wrong.
  • Ian Heller
  • February 2, 2021
Distributors: You’re Doing Marketing Wrong – and It’s Going to Cost You
Distribution Marketing

Distributors: You’re Doing Marketing Wrong – and It’s Going to Cost You

Distributors need to recognize the role marketing professionals can play in meeting customer expectations. If they don’t, they’ll quickly become irrelevant.
  • Jonathan Bein
  • January 26, 2021
2021 State of eCommerce in Distribution
B2B eCommerce

2021 State of eCommerce in Distribution, Part 1: A Rapid Rise in Adoption and Maturity

The adoption rate of ecommerce in distribution soared in 2020 with a weighted 26.3% increase from 2019 to 2020.
  • Dean Mueller
  • January 26, 2021
Shopping cart full of boxes with boxes overflowing onto the floor
B2B eCommerce

Webinar: 2021 State of eCommerce in Distribution: Part 1

In the first of two webinars on the State of eCommerce in Distribution, we present the results of our 9 annual State of eCommerce
  • Dean Mueller
  • January 26, 2021
The Role of Marketing Groups & Co-Ops Amid Disruption, feat. Steve Ruane, IMARK Electrical
Wholesale Change Show

Wholesale Change: The Role of Marketing Groups & Co-Ops Amid Disruption, feat. Steve Ruane, IMARK Electrical (January 20, 2021)

We had a frank conversation with Steve Ruane, Vice President of Marketing and Member Services for IMARK Electrical, about the role co-ops and marketing
  • Jonathan Bein
  • January 21, 2021
DSG Survey Reflects Sharp Increase in eCommerce Adoption, Maturity in 2020
B2B eCommerce

DSG Survey Reflects Sharp Increase in eCommerce Adoption, Maturity in 2020

We had expected a sharp increase in the adoption of ecommerce in 2020 with the shifts in buying behavior due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Dean Mueller
  • January 20, 2021
Home Depot, HD Supply and the Multifamily Market War
Wholesale Change Show

Wholesale Change: Home Depot, HD Supply and the Multifamily Market War (January 6, 2021)

We had a lively discussion about trends in the multifamily market, as well as the recent Home Depot-HD Supply acquisition.
  • Ian Heller
  • January 8, 2021
How to Build Successful B2B Customer Loyalty Programs
Distribution Marketing

How to Build Successful B2B Customer Loyalty Programs

Customer loyalty and incentive programs can help wholesale distribution companies build meaningful relationships with their customers to gain mindshare and wallet share.
  • Ian Heller
  • January 4, 2021
8 Reasons Distributors Fail at Digital
Digital Strategy

8 Reasons Distributors Fail at Digital

No matter how hard you try, it’s really easy to build a doomed website. In a recent episode of the Wholesale Change webcast and
  • Ian Heller
  • December 28, 2020
Secure Buy-in to Your Pricing Initiative
Wholesale Change Show

Wholesale Change: Secure Buy-in to Your Pricing Initiative (December 16, 2020)

Without buy-in from your entire team – including that salesperson that complains the most – a strategic pricing project will, simply put, not yield
  • Ian Heller
  • December 17, 2020
How Distributors Can (Finally) Succeed at Cross-Selling
Wholesale Change Show

Wholesale Change: How Distributors Can (Finally) Succeed at Cross-Selling

Debbie Paul joined Ian Heller and Jonathan Bein to talk about what’s in distributors’ way, and how emerging technologies are making it easier to
  • Ian Heller
  • December 10, 2020
Digitally Native Vertical Brands: Lessons for B2B Channels
Digital Strategy

Digitally Native Vertical Brands: Lessons for B2B Channels

As of yet, the Digitally Native Vertical Brand is not common in B2B markets. But B2B channels can learn from the success of DNVBs.
  • Jonathan Bein
  • December 9, 2020
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
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