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Data-Driven Decisions: Opportunities and Challenges in the Data Revolution

Distributors of all sizes and in all verticals are ambitiously investing in data capabilities over the next three years, and for good reason: the distributor data divide is big and growing. 

 

Our latest research, Data-driven decisions: opportunities and challenges in the data revolution, reveals the striking finding that the most data-savvy distributors are twice as likely to report using advanced data techniques in every single part of their business and twice as likely to report moving faster than average to continue growing their data capabilities

 

As a result, distributors who have been slow to adopt data capabilities are moving quickly to catch up. Of the distributors who identify as low-maturity today report realistic, 70% revealed that they have realistic plans to achieve high-maturity within the next three years. 

 

Download the report today to read more about these and other findings from the research, a multi-month effort that engaged over 200 senior distribution executives.

 

Elevate Your Sales Game: The Ultimate CRM Playbook for Distributors

Customer expectations are evolving, buying behavior is shifting, and competition has become more intense. 

Leading distributors see these challenges as opportunities and double down on the strategies that take them to the next level. 

 

Read on for seven winning strategies to increase revenue, crush the competition, improve profitability, and set your sales team up for attainable, long-term success. 

 

In this playbook, you’ll discover how to:

  • Unify offline and online sales to seize every opportunity
  • Develop higher-converting marketing campaigns with personalization
  • Improve sales efficiency and performance with automation
  • Train your team to take a more consultative approach to selling
  • Maximize profits with your pricing strategy
  • Identify the best opportunities for growth and expansion

 

What It Takes to Embrace AI in Distribution for Next-level Business Success

Dive into the world of artificial intelligence (AI) adoption in wholesale distribution with our practical guide. Uncover firsthand experiences from industry executives at different AI adoption stages, offering valuable strategies, implementation tips, and inspiring stories for your business’s transformative journey.

 

In an industry where the potential of AI is rapidly evolving, our guide becomes your compass. Join the narratives of three executives who, much like you, have seamlessly integrated AI into their operations, witnessing its transformative impact and now championing its potential for success. Consider AI not as a foreign concept, but as your next strategic partner in the distribution landscape. Just as you rely on supplier relationships and logistics providers, AI enhances efficiency and elevates the customer experience. Download our guide now to pave the way for your business’s AI-powered evolution and revolutionize wholesale distribution.

 

Is Now The Time To Purchase A New ERP For Wholesale Distribution?

In a new report, “Is Now the Time To Purchase a New ERP for Wholesale Distribution,” widely-recognized technology analyst Cindy Jutras makes a compelling case for why today’s wholesalers and distributors should not postpone ERP replacement during the pandemic and beyond.

Download the report and watch the on-demand webinar today, to learn why the pandemic’s acceleration of digital transformation is making cloud distribution solutions an imperative.

 

Download the report now.

6 Stellar Business Outcomes You Achieve When You Automate Order Processing

Streamlining sales order automation is a critical component influencing the future of business success. Automation enables companies to deliver goods efficiently while also enhancing customer relationships and experience.

This ebook outlines six significant business outcomes that manufacturers and distributors have achieved when implementing automated order processing.

 

Download the report now.

Technology’s Role in 2021 Business Planning

COVID-19 has brought sweeping changes to how distributors approach technology, forcing old operating practices out the door. Distributors have found themselves needing to build increasingly technology-enabled organizations.

In this MDM executive summary, we look at how three distribution executives responded to the pandemic with strategic digital transformations.

 

Download the report now.

Maximize Revenue and Wallet Share with Order Automation

All organizations are being asked to do more with less, and distributors are no exception. Distributors must be able to profitably engage with their customers. In this whitepaper, we show how distributors are using sales order automation to improve efficiencies, save on labor costs and elevate customer relationships.

 

Download now.

Digital Leverage for the Next Normal

It’s been a year of transformation. The pandemic has accelerated business. It’s also slowed it down. In between the rises and falls, distributors are finding themselves in need of new ways to communicate, track inventory and monitor team performance. This whitepaper shares both results stemming from MDM’s latest Trends survey as well as real-life scenarios on how distributors are investing in technology to tackle the unique business challenges and opportunities of 2020.

 

Download it now.

EBWD paid report

Executive Summary: 2020 Economic Benchmarks for Wholesale Distribution

At the beginning of 2020, who would predict it to be one of the toughest years most wholesale distribution companies have faced? For more than 10 years, MDM has published an annual chartbook that benchmarks the U.S. wholesale distribution industry with a variety of financial metrics: historic and forecast revenues; average gross margin; employment change; segmentation by company size and industry sectors served.

This Executive Summary provides an overview of our 234-page 2020 Economic Benchmarks for Wholesale Distribution report, based on 2019 data. Given the fundamental upheaval to this $6-trillion industry comprised of 19 sectors, these 2019 financial statistics will be critical benchmarks against which the recovery of the U.S. wholesale distribution industry will be measured over the next several years.

 

Download it now.

MDM’s 2020 Top Distributors List

MDM’s 2020 Top Distributors List provides rankings for more than 150 companies, across 16 discrete sectors. The rankings reflect 2019 revenues, whether company-reported or estimated by MDM.

Although the world has changed since these 2019 revenues came in, the areas where many of these leading companies succeeded last year serve as a harbinger for the elements of business that are helping distributors to now make it through 2020.

 

Click here to download the report.

Inside Sales Transformation in the Age of COVID-19

Even before the global pandemic became our worldwide reality, leading distributors were attempting to move their inside sales teams from being reactive call-takers to hands-on sale-makers. For many distributors, simply transitioning to having an inside sales team that operates proactively versus reactively can make a world of difference. In this whitepaper, we explore the top sales challenges that wholesale distributors are facing in the digital age and show how they can shift over to a more meaningful, engaging sales model that’s focused on the customer.

 

Download the whitepaper now.

The 2020 Distribution Industry Outlook

The U.S. economy is experiencing the longest economic expansion and bull market in history, although distributors saw mixed results closing out 2019. What are the best growth opportunities going forward? Lifted by a strengthening economic picture and the prospect of easing trade tensions, distributors intend to improve digital capabilities and invest in talent to sustain the industry for a new, technology-fueled decade.

 

Download the report now.

How You Can Preserve Cash Flow to Strengthen Business in a Slowing Economy

With the national economic recovery in its 10th year, wholesale distributors may have forgotten what it takes to keep the lights on and the wheels running in a more challenging selling environment. Despite industry disruptors like Amazon Business, geopolitical issues such as trade wars, and a massive uptick in business-to-business e-commerce, wholesalers have been posting healthy year-over-year sales growth. 

How Small(er) Distributors Can Gain Marketshare Online

Nearly 270 industry leaders—distributors, manufacturers and service providers—participated in a September, 2019 MDM survey on strategies for small distributors. This survey revealed a number of challenges facing smaller firms as they compete in an evolving marketplace. These challenges include resource limitations, changing customer expectations and evolving marketplace technologies. This white paper summarizes these survey results, discusses the findings and offers recommendations for moving forward.

Strengthening the Distributor-Manufacturer Relationship

What does it mean to choose a channel partner in the digital age? As technical capabilities improve, distributors and manufacturers need to work closer together than ever before to integrate systems and master customer needs. These five key areas are essential to ensuring a strong, mutually beneficial working partnership.

Mining the Gold in Distribution Data

Distributors can do so much more with their existing business data, but many are not aware of the tools at their disposal to analyze and execute on it. Or, they know the tools exist but aren’t sure how best to leverage them. Managing data in more effective ways can yield dramatic financial results. MDM’s John Gunderson and Tom Gale have outlined the most common challenges and address ways to overcome them.  They combine MDM’s latest research on best practices in data management to help you strengthen your capabilities.

The Old Value Proposition is No Longer Enough

Distribution companies are increasingly hearing about the digital transformation imperative for a reason. As explained in presentations at MDM’s 2019 Digital Distributor Summit, commoditization, competitive innovation and changing market dynamics are combining to forever alter the distributor’s traditional value proposition. Making a technology investment is no longer optional.

2019 Top Distributors List

This year’s free edition of MDM’s annual ranking of the top 150+ profiles North American industrial and construction product distributors across 16 product sectors. This is the tenth year MDM has profiled the size and shape of these markets. We’ve expanded the list this year to more accurately capture the largest suppliers of an incredibly diverse and fragmented product portfolio of MRO, production and consumable products (OEM products excluded).

How Distributors are Managing Online vs. Offline Pricing Challenges

Nearly 250 industry leaders — distributors, manufacturers and service providers — completed MDM’s survey on pricing practices. The responses revealed a lack of consistency and direction concerning online sales strategies. Although customers are increasingly demanding it, some industry players appear reluctant to adapt historical sales and pricing practices to a digital environment. Download the white paper to read more about the results, conclusions and recommendations.

Optimize Online Pricing

Learn how to optimize online pricing. This whitepaper will address pricing as it relates to five key areas: time, measure and test, people, information and price point. Understanding these components and how they fit into the overall picture of your price strategy across all channels will be critical for distributors to succeed into the future

2019 Outlook for Wholesale Distribution

MDM provides an outlook of the state of the distribution industry based on reader surveys and data collection in partnership with Oracle NetSuite. This white paper includes the growth outlook, top concerns, pain points, plans for building revenue and cutting costs and technology plans for 2019.

Technology Trends in Distribution in 2019

Distribution companies expect their customer touchpoints to radically change in the next three years, as sales channels continue to rapidly evolve. Even so, the distribution community is not aggressively embracing digital strategies, according to a recent MDM survey in conjunction with Infor.

Distributor Ecommerce Lessons: Barriers & Best Practices

The road to true, transaction-enabled e-commerce is fraught with obstacles, with many “right paths” to success. But there are proven best practices. Read the results of MDM’s latest survey on e-commerce implementation and learn how to quickly build a strong e-commerce platform with integrated inventory management capability.

Investment Banking Directory

Work with a banking partner that knows your business. Get detailed information on investment banks with expertise in the wholesale distribution industry.

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