Tariff volatility has transformed from an occasional disturbance into a persistent challenge for distributors, disrupting sourcing costs, pricing and margins with little warning, writes Stephan Liozu, chief value officer at price management and optimization firm Zilliant. Distributors that continue to rely on outdated, reactive approaches risk margin erosion and operational confusion. Liozu emphasizes the need for proactive strategies and agility to absorb shocks and pivot swiftly, making resilience to volatility a core competency for survival and profitability in 2026.

US consumer sentiment edged up slightly in July, reaching its highest level in five months, preliminary data from the University of Michigan show. However, the reading remains 16% below December 2024 and well under the historical average. Year-ahead inflation expectations dropped to 4.4%, while long-run expectations fell to 3.6%, both at their lowest since February but still above late 2024 levels.

Distributors face constant supply chain disruptions from global trade issues, regulatory changes, changing customer expectations and supplier instability, which increase sourcing risks and costs. To build resilience, Jeremy Centner of Sikich recommends diversifying suppliers across different regions and categories, prioritizing strong supplier relationships to ensure early warnings and better support during disruptions, investing in predictive analytics and modernizing technology.

Procurement teams should prioritize developing a customer-centric approach, investing in talent development, enhancing cross-functional collaboration, optimizing organizational design and leveraging technology and data, according to research from the University of Tennessee's Global Supply Chain Institute. The "Future-Ready Procurement" whitepaper emphasizes the need for procurement to shift from cost savings to customer value, integrate with other functional areas and adopt technologies that automate tasks and improve process accuracy.

Prologis reported more than $900 million in development starts in the second quarter, up sharply from the same period last year, as companies seek more custom-built warehouse space. Companies need more space to expand even as they deal with broader uncertainty. "With every passing day, there's more water building up behind the dam, and we're seeing the evidence of this with the largest customers," CEO Hamid Moghadam said. "Their ability to defer is getting reduced with every passing day." 

B2B marketers face challenges in achieving personalization, primarily due to the volume and complexity of required content and the need for precise targeting by segment, industry or account, writes Claravine's Bernard Kiyanda. Generative AI addresses these challenges by automating content generation and personalization, but success is contingent on having structured, standardized metadata, Kiyanda writes.

CEOs of some of the biggest US banks said tariffs are prompting corporate clients to act more cautiously, with pauses in capital expenditures and hiring becoming more common. Many of the clients "have found ways to avoid passing the 10% tariffs on to their customers" and are "developing contingency plans if the downside scenario occurs," Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf said.

More than half of Fortune 100 companies have returned to full-time office work, ending the dominance of hybrid schedules, according to a Jones Lang LaSalle report. Hybrid work schedules have sharply declined among major employers, dropping from 78% two years ago to just 41%. The shift marks a clear end to pandemic-era remote and hybrid flexibility, with major employers instituting an average requirement of 3.8 days per week in the office.

In today’s digitally driven supply chain, distributors are under pressure to deliver rich, accurate and differentiated product experiences -- faster and across more channels than ever before. But most organizations struggle to get the basics of product data right, let alone scale it for AI-driven automation, personalization or enrichment. In this webcast, an expert panel will dive into the core challenges facing B2B distributors when it comes to organizing, governing and scaling product information. They'll also explore the foundational elements required to make product data AI-ready. Join MDM to learn how to turn complex product data into a competitive advantage.

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