Stellar Industrial Supply blends third-party platforms with in-house development to deliver a more seamless, data-driven customer experience. We continue our company deep dive as this piece explores how its buy-vs.-build strategy, automation efforts and digital...
Economic Trends
Article
MDM Forecast: April Update
Our latest update shows another major upgrade for the U.S. wholesale distribution industry’s 2026 annual revenues – skewed by oil & gas price assumptions as well as other inflationary impacts. Get your much more valuable...
Market Analysis
Article
Fastenal Points to Market Improvement as its Outperformance Continues
Pricing is still playing a large — albeit decelerated role — in the company’s strong results, while management was upbeat on underlying demand. Get our in-depth breakdown of Fastenal’s 1Q metrics.
Vendor costs are shifting weekly, but most distributors are still updating them manually — and bleeding margin with every delay. With a racing analogy throughout, this piece argues that manual cost updates are no longer...
Mergers & Acquisitions
Article
March M&A Roundup: Major Deals Aplenty
After 2 straight years of $100 million-plus deals that were few and far between, 2026 has already seen plenty either completed or announced, including a handful in March.
Leadership
Article
What Our Women in Distribution Honorees Say About Joining – and Thriving – in the Industry
You’ve seen their profiles and commentary in our four-part series (if not, you really should). Now, see their advice for other women who are either just starting in distribution or interested in the industry.
Strategy
Article
Inside Grainger Show: How a 12,000-Person Event Reinforces the Distributor’s Customer-Centric Model
The 2026 edition brought together enough Grainger customers, suppliers and staff to fill a small town, but the real story is how the event showcases the company’s evolving value proposition. Mike Hockett shares his key...
Economic Trends
Article
MDM Forecast: March Update
Our latest update shows a major upgrade for the U.S. wholesale distribution industry’s 2026 annual revenues – heavily skewed by oil pricing assumptions tied to the Iran conflict. Get your much more valuable sector-specific revenue...
Singer Industrial is undertaking a multiyear ERP transformation to unify systems across 55+ businesses. In this third and final part of an MDM Case Study series, we detail how the initiative — alongside investments in...
Leadership
Article
Ludwig Meister, Pt. 3: Making Innovation Stick – Culture, People & Reengineering Sales
The third and final part of this case study series on Germany-based power transmission and motion control distributor Ludwig Meiser explores why disciplined execution ultimately depends on people, trust and behavior — not technology.
Data & Analytics
Article
Ludwig Meister, Pt. 2: From Data to AI, How to Embed Innovation into Operations
Part 2 of this case study series on Germany-based power transmission and motion control distributor Ludwig Meister explores turning data discipline, analytics and AI into real operating leverage — without losing focus or control.
Mergers & Acquisitions
Article
Singer Industrial’s Acquisition Playbook: Patience, People and Platform Fit
The second part of our Singer Industrial deep dive explores how the industrial rubber, fluid power and automation distribution organization decides which distributors to bring into its growing platform. President Pete Haberbosch explains the company’s...

