Surcharges and price increases that were never meant to be permanent may still be sitting in distributors’ price books. It may be time to revisit what still holds up — and what doesn’t.
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ECONOMIC OUTLOOK REPORTS
This comprehensive NAW 3Q26 Forecast 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. Its economic indicator data is updated through July 17.
This comprehensive MDM 2Q26 Forecast 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. Its economic indicator data is updated through May 15.
Premium Monthly
Our synthesized September Intelligence Brief covers our three-part ADI Global deep dive; Rexel’s North American M&A push; Fastenal’s quiet acquisition of an AI startup; the time sequence distributors are overlooking on supplier price increases; and our monthly MDM Forecast and wholesale trade sales update.
Our new-look Intelligence Brief synthesizes all of our monthly Premium articles into a 6 to 8-page report that distills key takeaways from that content — a perfect quick read for busy executives.
Market Insight Reports
NAW’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.
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.
Case Studies
This MDM Case Study examines how Grainger continues to outgrow the MRO market through a connected operating model built on High-Touch customer solutions, curated assortment, private label, digital commerce, data intelligence and fulfillment scale.
This MDM Case Study examines how Stellar Industrial Supply built a differentiated growth model around documented customer savings, service-first selling and digital execution — turning measurable value creation into a durable platform for customer loyalty, expansion and operational excellence.
Premium Articles
Get our rundown of every deal we published during September, along with our updated monthly deal count and breakdown of year-to-date transactions by product category.
Rexel’s newly-announced GCG acquisition extends a multiyear expansion that has strengthened its North American footprint while adding automation, connectivity and engineered services. Tracing those deals reveals how the company’s growth strategy is evolving — and what it signals for electrical distribution’s next phase of consolidation.
ADI Global Distribution has outlined an $80 million-plus savings program and a path toward roughly $500 million in standalone adjusted EBITDA by 2030. But gross savings are not incremental profit, and growth does not automatically create cash. The third and final installment of our company deep dive examines the execution requirements behind those targets.
ADI’s standalone strategy is built around more than selling additional products. Its digital platform, exclusive brands, expanding categories and project services are designed to reinforce one another — helping integrators complete more of each job while improving the distributor’s customer relationships and revenue mix. See Part 2 of our three-part ADI deep dive here.
Details on the deal are very limited, but directionally meaningful toward adding a new dimension to Fastenal’s AI ambitions among distribution's greater arms race of AI build-and-buy solutions. Here's our analysis of what this Fastenal acquisition signals for the company alongside other recent industry investments.
September brought another modest upgrade to the industry’s 2026 revenue outlook, but broader softening in 2027 projections. Most sectors saw next year’s forecasts trimmed, with an Oil & Gas upgrade cushioning the overall reduction. Get your much more valuable sector-specific revenue forecasts here.
Fresh off its Resideo spin-off and NYSE debut, ADI CEO Rob Aarnes laid out the distributor’s next challenge: turn years of acquisitions and systems investment into a simpler, more integrated business. His playbook — consolidate platforms, clean the data and deploy AI where ROI is measurable — offers lessons far beyond ADI. We cover it here in detail.
Industry sales rose 0.8% in July after June’s revised large decline, with gains across most product categories. Inventories increased even faster, but remain lean relative to sales compared with a year ago. Get our full data breakdown and analysis of what it signals for distributors.
The first two articles in this series looked at the cost-to-price lag — in isolation. As explained here in the conclusion, the full picture is bigger: a single vendor cost increase actually triggers three separate clocks, and most distributors are watching only the first one.
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The first two articles in this series looked at the cost-to-price lag — in isolation. As explained here in the conclusion, the full picture is bigger: a single vendor cost increase actually triggers three separate clocks, and most distributors are watching only the first one.
Recent NAW survey results and independent case studies show that understanding the days-long gap between supplier cost increases and pricing response can help distributors feel more confident in protecting margins. The second in this three-part "The Hidden Majority" series shows that every day you wait, margin slips away.
This category can only be viewed by members. To view this category, sign up by purchasing MDM Premium Subscription (monthly) or MDM Premium Subscription (annual).
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Get our rundown of every deal we published during September, along with our updated monthly deal count and breakdown of year-to-date transactions by product category.
Rexel’s newly-announced GCG acquisition extends a multiyear expansion that has strengthened its North American footprint while adding automation, connectivity and engineered services. Tracing those deals reveals how the company’s growth strategy is evolving — and what it signals for electrical distribution’s next phase of consolidation.
ADI Global Distribution has outlined an $80 million-plus savings program and a path toward roughly $500 million in standalone adjusted EBITDA by 2030. But gross savings are not incremental profit, and growth does not automatically create cash. The third and final installment of our company deep dive examines the execution requirements behind those targets.
ADI’s standalone strategy is built around more than selling additional products. Its digital platform, exclusive brands, expanding categories and project services are designed to reinforce one another — helping integrators complete more of each job while improving the distributor’s customer relationships and revenue mix. See Part 2 of our three-part ADI deep dive here.
Details on the deal are very limited, but directionally meaningful toward adding a new dimension to Fastenal’s AI ambitions among distribution's greater arms race of AI build-and-buy solutions. Here's our analysis of what this Fastenal acquisition signals for the company alongside other recent industry investments.
September brought another modest upgrade to the industry’s 2026 revenue outlook, but broader softening in 2027 projections. Most sectors saw next year’s forecasts trimmed, with an Oil & Gas upgrade cushioning the overall reduction. Get your much more valuable sector-specific revenue forecasts here.
Fresh off its Resideo spin-off and NYSE debut, ADI CEO Rob Aarnes laid out the distributor’s next challenge: turn years of acquisitions and systems investment into a simpler, more integrated business. His playbook — consolidate platforms, clean the data and deploy AI where ROI is measurable — offers lessons far beyond ADI. We cover it here in detail.
Industry sales rose 0.8% in July after June’s revised large decline, with gains across most product categories. Inventories increased even faster, but remain lean relative to sales compared with a year ago. Get our full data breakdown and analysis of what it signals for distributors.
The first two articles in this series looked at the cost-to-price lag — in isolation. As explained here in the conclusion, the full picture is bigger: a single vendor cost increase actually triggers three separate clocks, and most distributors are watching only the first one.
We published news about nearly three dozen different deals in August involving at least one industrial distributor. Get our rundown of all of them, along with our updated monthly deal count and breakdown of year-to-date transactions by product category.
Recent NAW survey results and independent case studies show that understanding the days-long gap between supplier cost increases and pricing response can help distributors feel more confident in protecting margins. The second in this three-part "The Hidden Majority" series shows that every day you wait, margin slips away.
AI agents can quickly inflate costs and amplify risk when every task uses the same model. This article shows how intelligent model routing, firm guardrails and human oversight can help distributors scale AI responsibly while controlling spend and maintaining accountability.
Distribution deal activity remains resilient, but buyers are applying greater scrutiny to margins, recurring revenue and competitive differentiation. PMCF’s Joe Wagner explains which assets are commanding premiums, how acquisition priorities are changing and what prospective sellers should do now.
The 2Q26 NAW-Baird Industrial Distribution Survey reveals what distributors are most excited — and most concerned — about over the next 12 months, from demand recovery to geopolitical uncertainty.
Construction estimates often fail because labor, pricing, freight and lead-time assumptions become outdated before purchasing begins. This article explains how distributors can provide the real-time market intelligence, transparent quotes and delivery planning customers need to reduce budget surprises and build more reliable project estimates.
After five straight considerable upward revisions to the industry’s 2026 revenue outlook, our latest Forecast was comparatively quiet at the top line. Oil & Gas gave back some of its recent surge, but broad upgrades elsewhere kept the overall forecast moving slightly higher. Get your much more valuable sector-specific revenue forecasts here.
June wholesale sales gave back most of May’s gain, but remained 14.1% above a year earlier as inventories edged higher. The monthly pullback was concentrated in oil and gas, while sales across the rest of wholesale trade were nearly flat. Get all the key figures and trend charts here.
NAW Research suggests manufacturers want distributors to communicate more and plan more strategically. Distributors, meanwhile, are asking for many of the same things from suppliers. Explore commentary from both sides in the latest 2Q26 NAW-Baird Industrial Distribution Survey.
Amazon will automatically reimburse customers in limited cases where it can trace tariff charges to specific purchases. New disclosures from Grainger and Global Industrial show that sizable refunds are also reaching industrial distributors and materially affecting reported margins.
Activity improved from a weaker June, with Ferguson's pending $1.6 billion purchase of FloWorks serving as the biggest transaction of the bunch, by far. Get our rundown of every deal we published during July, along with our updated monthly deal count and breakdown of year-to-date transactions by product category.
Get our rundown of every deal we published during September, along with our updated monthly deal count and breakdown of year-to-date transactions by product category.
Rexel’s newly-announced GCG acquisition extends a multiyear expansion that has strengthened its North American footprint while adding automation, connectivity and engineered services. Tracing those deals reveals how the company’s growth strategy is evolving — and what it signals for electrical distribution’s next phase of consolidation.
ADI Global Distribution has outlined an $80 million-plus savings program and a path toward roughly $500 million in standalone adjusted EBITDA by 2030. But gross savings are not incremental profit, and growth does not automatically create cash. The third and final installment of our company deep dive examines the execution requirements behind those targets.
ADI’s standalone strategy is built around more than selling additional products. Its digital platform, exclusive brands, expanding categories and project services are designed to reinforce one another — helping integrators complete more of each job while improving the distributor’s customer relationships and revenue mix. See Part 2 of our three-part ADI deep dive here.
Details on the deal are very limited, but directionally meaningful toward adding a new dimension to Fastenal’s AI ambitions among distribution's greater arms race of AI build-and-buy solutions. Here's our analysis of what this Fastenal acquisition signals for the company alongside other recent industry investments.
September brought another modest upgrade to the industry’s 2026 revenue outlook, but broader softening in 2027 projections. Most sectors saw next year’s forecasts trimmed, with an Oil & Gas upgrade cushioning the overall reduction. Get your much more valuable sector-specific revenue forecasts here.
Fresh off its Resideo spin-off and NYSE debut, ADI CEO Rob Aarnes laid out the distributor’s next challenge: turn years of acquisitions and systems investment into a simpler, more integrated business. His playbook — consolidate platforms, clean the data and deploy AI where ROI is measurable — offers lessons far beyond ADI. We cover it here in detail.
Industry sales rose 0.8% in July after June’s revised large decline, with gains across most product categories. Inventories increased even faster, but remain lean relative to sales compared with a year ago. Get our full data breakdown and analysis of what it signals for distributors.
The first two articles in this series looked at the cost-to-price lag — in isolation. As explained here in the conclusion, the full picture is bigger: a single vendor cost increase actually triggers three separate clocks, and most distributors are watching only the first one.
We published news about nearly three dozen different deals in August involving at least one industrial distributor. Get our rundown of all of them, along with our updated monthly deal count and breakdown of year-to-date transactions by product category.
Recent NAW survey results and independent case studies show that understanding the days-long gap between supplier cost increases and pricing response can help distributors feel more confident in protecting margins. The second in this three-part "The Hidden Majority" series shows that every day you wait, margin slips away.
AI agents can quickly inflate costs and amplify risk when every task uses the same model. This article shows how intelligent model routing, firm guardrails and human oversight can help distributors scale AI responsibly while controlling spend and maintaining accountability.
Distribution deal activity remains resilient, but buyers are applying greater scrutiny to margins, recurring revenue and competitive differentiation. PMCF’s Joe Wagner explains which assets are commanding premiums, how acquisition priorities are changing and what prospective sellers should do now.
The 2Q26 NAW-Baird Industrial Distribution Survey reveals what distributors are most excited — and most concerned — about over the next 12 months, from demand recovery to geopolitical uncertainty.
Construction estimates often fail because labor, pricing, freight and lead-time assumptions become outdated before purchasing begins. This article explains how distributors can provide the real-time market intelligence, transparent quotes and delivery planning customers need to reduce budget surprises and build more reliable project estimates.
After five straight considerable upward revisions to the industry’s 2026 revenue outlook, our latest Forecast was comparatively quiet at the top line. Oil & Gas gave back some of its recent surge, but broad upgrades elsewhere kept the overall forecast moving slightly higher. Get your much more valuable sector-specific revenue forecasts here.
June wholesale sales gave back most of May’s gain, but remained 14.1% above a year earlier as inventories edged higher. The monthly pullback was concentrated in oil and gas, while sales across the rest of wholesale trade were nearly flat. Get all the key figures and trend charts here.
NAW Research suggests manufacturers want distributors to communicate more and plan more strategically. Distributors, meanwhile, are asking for many of the same things from suppliers. Explore commentary from both sides in the latest 2Q26 NAW-Baird Industrial Distribution Survey.
Amazon will automatically reimburse customers in limited cases where it can trace tariff charges to specific purchases. New disclosures from Grainger and Global Industrial show that sizable refunds are also reaching industrial distributors and materially affecting reported margins.
Activity improved from a weaker June, with Ferguson's pending $1.6 billion purchase of FloWorks serving as the biggest transaction of the bunch, by far. Get our rundown of every deal we published during July, along with our updated monthly deal count and breakdown of year-to-date transactions by product category.
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