Featured Blog Archives

The KPIs Raising the Bar for Mid-Market Distributors

This this Q&A piece, Ducker Carlisle’s Amy Marzonie and Chris Fisher explain how consolidators are using inventory turns, delivery performance and cost-to-serve to assess distributor scalability — and why operational discipline alone won’t maximize growth or valuation.

August 7, 2026

Economic Trends

June U.S. Wholesale Sales Drop 3% as Petro Reverses Course; Industry Largely Flat

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August 6, 2026

MDM Blog

MDM’s July Premium Monthly Intelligence Brief is Here

We've revamped our Premium Monthly report — formerly a PDF often spanning 30-40 pages — into a consise, synthesized six-page briefing that extracts the biggest takeaways and themes from the articles published each month. It's perfect for busy executives. Get our July and June briefs here.

August 5, 2026

MDM Market Leaders

ADI’s NYSE Debut, Ferguson’s S&P 500 Entry Give Distribution a Week to Celebrate

ADI Global Distribution’s launch as an independent public company and Ferguson’s elevation to the S&P 500 delivered a rare double milestone for wholesale distribution — and a timely reminder of the industry’s scale, resilience and economic importance.

August 4, 2026

Tariffs

Amazon to Return Portion of Tariff Refund. Should Distributors Do the Same?

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August 4, 2026

MRO

Grainger Raises Outlook Again as 2Q Growth Accelerates and Volume Takes Lead

Grainger extended its early-2026 momentum with robust daily organic sales growth, double-digit gains across most end markets and another outlook increase. Volume became the larger driver in its core U.S. business, while tariff refunds supplied most of the quarter’s gross margin lift.

August 4, 2026

Management

Tenure Capital: The Asset Distribution Companies Don’t Know They’re Losing

Wholesale distributors are sitting on an overlooked asset: the judgment and institutional knowledge of their most experienced employees. This article explains how AI can help companies capture that “tenure capital” before a historic retirement wave carries it out the door for good.

August 3, 2026

Mergers & Acquisitions

July M&A Roundup: Ferguson-FloWorks, DSG’s Go-Private Lead Healthy Month

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July 31, 2026

Legal & Regulatory Issues

NAW Sues to Block Colorado EPR Law in Latest Legal Filing

NAW’s latest EPR challenge targets Colorado’s packaging recycling law, marking the association’s third legal action against state EPR programs after its Oregon and California filings.

July 30, 2026

Research

MDM’s 2Q26 MarketPulse Report is Here, Showing Market-Specific Revenue Performance, Pricing & Expectations

MDM’s 2Q26 MarketPulse Report consists of the quarterly results, analysis and commentary from the latest Baird-MDM Industrial Distribution Survey — conducted early July — that explored revenue performance, pricing and business expectations for the current quarter and rest-of-year. It includes a wealth of market-specific data and commentary from survey respondents.

July 28, 2026

Research

NAW Research: Distributor-Supplier Relationships Hold Steady

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July 27, 2026

Operations

Lean Six Sigma, Pt. 4: From Continuous Improvement to Continuous Intelligence

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July 22, 2026

Legal & Regulatory Issues

NAW Awaits Ruling After Oregon EPR Trial

NAW presented its case challenging Oregon’s packaging EPR law during a July 13-17 federal trial in Portland, and a ruling is expected by the end of August. See the association's statement on the matter.

July 21, 2026

Market Analysis

Amazon Business Surpasses $60B in Annualized Gross Sales. Here’s What to Know

The B2B marketplace added $25 billion to its annual GMV since its previous update three years ago, while expanding its customer base and building out AI, procurement and delivery capabilities. Here's the key details, context and competitive analysis.

July 21, 2026

Strategy

The Top 5 Components of a Distributor Business Plan

If your company lacks a plan or yours is gathering dust, follow these guidelines.

July 20, 2026

Mergers & Acquisitions

See NAW’s 2Q26 M&A Report

See our updated monthly deal counts; a year-to-date breakdown of M&A activity by product category; the latest EBITDA trading multiples for 27 publicly traded industrial distributors; our latest M&A-led Premium article; and our detailed recap of dealmaking activity during April-June, which saw decelerated but still healthy activity.

July 20, 2026

Economic Trends

Now Available: NAW’s 3Q26 Forecast Report

This comprehensive NAW 3Q26 Forecast Report is a guide to the U.S. wholesale distribution economy, providing a historical, current and future snapshot of numerous key economic indicators in one convenient place along with our exclusive sector-specific forecasts for 19 different product categories.

July 17, 2026

Economic Trends

MDM Forecast: July Update

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July 15, 2026

Market Analysis

Analysis: Fastenal’s Strong Sales & Margin Performance Continue Despite Pricing Moderation

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July 14, 2026

Flow Control

Ferguson Makes $1.6B Flow Control Bet with FloWorks Deal

Ferguson’s largest acquisition in years would add approximately $1 billion in annual revenue, more than 60 locations and extensive valve automation, repair and technical capabilities — significantly expanding its position in industrial flow control markets.

July 13, 2026

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