The path to perfect efficiency requires something more transformational: challenging the underlying assumptions that form distribution business models.

In this paper, we aim to identify some of the assumptions most ripe for challenging in the face of today’s environment, and offer a starting point for progressive, ambitious, future-thinking leaders ready to start building next generation distribution businesses.

Download the whitepaper here.

Why leaders of distribution are shifting into the next digital lane as a growth strategy.

Cash isn’t just king for distributors — it’s the army that both protects the business and empowers growth and expansion. In this exclusive report, financial executives behind four large and sophisticated NAW members take us inside their AR departments to see how and why they’re accelerating with automation this year.

Download the whitepaper here.

Customer experience is still the name of game, whether distributors are contending with ERPs, self-serve eCommerce tools or AI implementation.

This whitepaper provides lessons from large players on balancing your relevance in the market with your own ROI strategy before making tech investments.

Download the whitepaper here.

This research study presents four strategic scenarios for wholesale distribution’s future, revealing that distributors with dedicated future-sensing processes are 4x more likely to be top revenue generators.

Based on research with 85+ industry leaders, the report explores how critical uncertainties around innovation investment and global stability could reshape the industry by 2035—from regulated AI adoption in stable markets to high-tech disruption and regional fragmentation.

This strategic foresight tool helps distribution leaders test assumptions, navigate uncertainty, and build resilient strategies that thrive across multiple possible futures, addressing the reality that only 11% of executives have high confidence in their current strategic plans.

Download the report here.

Based on in-depth interviews with over 25 distribution leaders, a survey of 100 respondents, and in-depth market research, we identified five imperatives to thrive and create more value in this high-potential but increasingly competitive market.

Download the report here.

Still Relying on Reactive Sales?

Distributors today need to do more than wait for the phone to ring if they want to keep business growing. And despite ranking proactive sales 7.35/10 in importance, only 22% actively engage in outbound efforts.

Prokeep partnered with Channel Marketing Group to create these exclusive survey insights from distributors nationwide and uncovered a surprising gap between strategy and execution.

Are you in the 78% falling behind, or ready to take the lead?

This free report presents key findings such as:

● Why most distributors struggle to turn strategy into action
● How top performers are driving demand and growing accounts
● What it takes to build a winning outbound sales motion today

Download the report and discover how to turn proactive sales into revenue-driving results.

Artificial Intelligence is transforming almost every industry; yet for all the enthusiasm, many distributors still lack clear guidance on implementing it practically.

In response, we set out to create a structured resource to explore practical AI use cases directly relevant to distributors.

This multi-month research effort includes surveys, interviews, extensive publication scanning, and deep synthesis to ultimately surface over 50 use cases of AI for distribution.

Download the guide here.

Whether via ERP improvements, AI infusion, eCommerce tools or all the above, improving customer experience is today’s top priority for nearly all wholesale distributors.

This new guide from MDM provides real-world examples from companies that recently innovated on this front and the ROI strategy and self-evaluation they underwent before making tech investments.

Download the guide here.

This playbook is a comprehensive analysis guide and thought leadership resource on mergers and acquisitions in industrial, commercial and building supplies wholesale distribution sectors.

Review a current- and future-state look at dealmaking among the distribution sectors MDM regularly covers from an editorial perspective, helping you make sense of what’s happened recently and what to expect in the years to come.

Download the playbook here.

MDM’s marquee 2024 event delivered a wealth of change management levers and case study examples from leading distributors.

Here, find a collection of our top takeaways, including conversations with leaders from Stellar Industrial Supply, ABC Supply, and Wesco.

Download the playbook here.

Discover how distributors are using AI technologies to drive efficiency, enhance decision-making and create competitive advantage.

What’s Inside?

• Real-world applications of artificial intelligence across various business functions.
• Distribution use-case examples.
• Action steps for getting started in AI.

Download the whitepaper here.

Amidst the upheaval of recent years, businesses worldwide have been propelled into a new era of decision-making. Now, as the dust settles, it’s time to not only catch our breath but to seize the reins to achieve new levels of digital agility and innovation.

This whitepaper will uncover the stories of two pioneering distribution businesses, illuminating the strategies they employed to overcome resistance and foster a collective embrace of digital change. In this narrative lies the blueprint for success—a roadmap forged by those who have dared to innovate and emerge triumphant in the digital age.

Discover how leading distributors are inventing and transforming business models to delight customers, disrupt competitors, and drive new revenue. Our comprehensive report, “Business Model Innovation: Delighting Customers and Disrupting Competitors to Drive New Revenue,” is packed with actionable insights and real-world examples from industry leaders.

What’s Inside?

• In-Depth Analysis: Explore trends in business model innovation, including how much new revenue distributors are generating from innovation
• Actionable Data: Access exclusive survey results from nearly 100 distribution executives, highlighting key priorities, challenges, and investment trends.
• Future Opportunities: Discover the new capabilities and business model types distributors plan to pursue in the next five years.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to learn about the current – and future – state of business models in distribution.

Join the ranks of industry leaders who are redefining inventory management for success in today’s dynamic marketplace. Our exclusive guide delves into the innovative approaches adopted by a top distributor, unveiling a blueprint for navigating market fluctuations and rising complexities with confidence.

Learn from the Best: Explore how a leading distributor has shattered traditional inventory norms, paving the way for a new era of agile supply chain planning.

Transformative Insights Await: Discover three key focal points that can revolutionize your inventory management strategy, propelling your business from reactive to proactive and positioning you for unparalleled performance.

Embrace Change, Embrace Success: Equip yourself with the tools to embrace volatility, turning challenges into opportunities and achieving new heights of efficiency and profitability.

As distribution leaders constantly seek educational resources on business transformation, technology optimization and talent management, MDM’s SHIFT conference has answered the call. The annual executive summit invites distributor decision-makers to attend and absorb three days of thought leadership across numerous topics that our audience has indicated are top-of-mind for those driving the industry forward.

Here, we’ve compressed four of the sessions from our 2023 SHIFT event into an MDM Playbook, extracting key takeaways from the content they offered. They include transformation case studies on industrial supplies outperformers Motion and Global Industrial Company; insights from Gartner on using technology as a burden-lifter on sales staff; and lessons from a panel discussion about workplace culture components that foster an environment where talent want to work and stay.

Read on to view those pieces from our marquee in-person event, and mark your calendars for MDM’s 2024 SHIFT conference, to be held Sept. 11-13 in downtown Denver.

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.