Distributors are constantly met with new challenges, however, rethinking how to use master distributors can help companies better meet customer demand while lowering costs and improving core processes, according to Roger Woodward, president of Alliance Distribution Partners, Gallatin, TN, in The Evolving Role of Master Distributors.

Many master distributors – also called redistributors or wholesalers, depending on the sector – are now playing a more collaborative and consultative role in their relationships with distributors, which allows companies to strike the important balance between streamlining their supply chain and providing more to customers.

“Small distributors still need access to brands they can’t get otherwise, regional distributors are being more strategic about focusing on their core vendors and picking everything else up from master distributors, and national distributors are doing the same thing: rationalizing inventory investments, looking to break into new products and using master distributors to do so in a low cost manner,” says Roger Woodward, president of Alliance Distribution Partners, Gallatin, TN.

Read more about the benefits of rethinking channel relationships in The Evolving Role of Master Distributors.