Perhaps more than any other industry, wholesale distribution has felt the brunt of the global pandemic's disruptive power. Supply chains for products as diverse as food, building supplies, and electronics have been stretched to their limits by unpredictable swings in both supply and demand. Manufacturers have struggled to maintain production, and both B2B and B2C end customers have managed through shortages and out-of-stock situations. In the middle, distributors have rapidly shifted infrastructure, inventory, and personnel to keep their businesses and the economy functioning.

The good news is that innovation is thriving amid the adversity. Opportunities abound for distributors to hone their competitive edge and forge new, more profitable ways of doing business. To help weather the turbulence – and harness the upside potential of the new normal – distributors are tapping new technologies and reshaping their work to continue fueling the supply chain.

We are seeing tech-driven innovation spreading rapidly across key areas of the $7 trillion wholesale distribution industry, from digital commerce, to planning and forecasting, to warehousing and logistics. Distributors are also using new technology solutions to reimagine how they manage rebates to optimize revenue.