Industry Insights

Many of the distributors recognized in the AI Top 25 spent years standardizing product information, customer records, and other core business data before expanding AI deployments across the enterprise.

For distributors, the findings suggest that interest in AI is increasingly centered on operational applications rather than experimental technology.

Rexel reported a record 4% productivity improvement during the first half of 2026, which executives attributed to operational improvement programs and the company’s AI transformation. The gains helped offset higher operating costs while supporting improved financial performance.

The release is part of Cavallo’s broader strategy to build software specifically for wholesale distribution.

The funding comes as venture capital firms continue to back software companies focused on wholesale distribution, a sector that has drawn increasing attention as distributors invest in AI to improve inventory productivity, reduce working capital, and offset labor shortages.

The software is designed to interpret customer requests, identify products, recommend substitute items when products are unavailable, generate draft quotes and prepare customer emails using customer-specific pricing and catalog data. Sales representatives review and approve every quote before it is delivered to a customer.

The industry’s first evidence-based benchmark found only 26 distributors with AI operating in production. The companies at the top aren’t experimenting with artificial intelligence. They’re redesigning how distribution works.

Additional AI capabilities under development include conversational search, an AI-powered customer answering tool and faster, intelligent quoting

In a keynote fireside chat titled “The CIO’s AI Playbook: What BlueLinx Learned Building an AI-Ready Distribution Operation,” Gautam will discuss the infrastructure, data strategy and technology investments underpinning the company’s AI transformation.

For distributors, the European launch reflects the accelerating adoption of embedded AI within ERP platforms, with capabilities aimed at improving inventory planning, sourcing, fulfillment, financial workflows, and operational decision-making from within existing enterprise systems.

The webinar will reveal the Platinum, Gold, and Silver honorees, explain the research methodology and highlight the characteristics shared by the industry’s AI leaders.

The acquisition expands Schneider Electric’s presence in the fast-growing industrial AI software market, where manufacturers are increasingly adopting AI to improve equipment reliability, optimize production and reduce operating costs.

The announcement reflects a broader trend across wholesale distribution as companies deploy AI to automate estimating, quoting and other document-intensive workflow

Just a year ago, many distributors were asking where AI might fit into their businesses. At Distribution Strategy Group’s Applied AI for Distributors conference held June 23-25 in Rosemont, Ill., that question was absent.

Grainger chief technology officer Jonny LeRoy tells attendees at DSG’s Applied AI for Distributors conference in Chicago how the distributor keeps AI costs in check and prepares for the heightened risks from hackers armed with AI tools.

Artificial intelligence will transform wholesale distribution, but distributors that succeed will be those that treat cybersecurity and workforce development as strategic priorities rather than afterthoughts.