As distributors navigate 2025’s volatile economy, those with strong fundamentals and bold strategies are emerging as market leaders. This report explores how top-performing companies are leveraging AI, M&A opportunities, and value-added services to drive growth, improve margins, and stay ahead in a rapidly evolving landscape.

Key Takeaways:

• Economic trends and market forces reshaping distribution in 2025.
• Why AI, CX systems, and analytics are critical to performance.
• What’s driving M&A—and how to prepare for it.
• Strategic growth areas: data centers, healthcare, and food sectors.

• Actionable recommendations for tech, operations, and leadership.

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About the author:

Ian Heller joined Grainger as a part-time truck unloader in college and left fifteen years later as the VP Marketing. Since then, he's held senior executive positions at four other publicly-held firms, consulted with dozens of distributors, and continues to write and speak extensively on how AI, strategy, channel evolution and other major trends affect the industry. Ian holds a B.A. in History from Roosevelt University and an MBA from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University.