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The Wholesale Change ShowAuthor: Jonathan Bein, Ian Heller
Wholesale Change is a weekly live news show for the distribution industry, hosted by Ian Heller and Mark Brohan. Each episode dives into the stories that actually matter to distributorsearnings reports, M&A, AD and buying group developments, Amazon Business, AI, and the strategies behind the headlines. Language: en Genres: Business, Management, Marketing Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Wholesale Change: AD Buys Back SupplyForce, Rexel's $1.4B Data Center Bet, and Is Walmart Distribution's Sleeping Giant?
Episode 109
Tuesday, 29 September, 2026
Distribution's buying-group wars are heating up again. Ian Heller and Mark Brohan dig into AD's reacquisition of SupplyForce, the national-accounts platform AD spun out decades ago and is now folding back in-house — its 18th acquisition to date — and what that means for independents trying to compete with the likes of Grainger for big national contracts. From there, it's another chapter in the data-center land grab, as Rexel agrees to pay $1.4 billion for Chicago-based GCC, putting it in direct competition with Sonepar for a construction wave that may be slower to materialize than expected. We also look at Lowe's testing drone delivery straight to the job site, regional plumbing and HVAC distributor Hills Distribution's national e-commerce push with Pex Universe, and why Walmart — quietly building out Walmart for Business and automating its distribution centers — may be the most underestimated competitor in wholesale distribution. Plus, our lightning round tackles whether Walmart-level automation will force mid-market distributors to catch up or fall behind. It was a big week in distribution. We break down what matters and why.
