Technology improvements to its e-commerce platform helped Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits surpass $3 billion in digital sales in 2022. Among the features the distributor has added to its SGProof platform are a mobile barcode scanning capability, a recommendation tool for out-of-stock items and a feature that saves customers' past orders for easy reordering.

United Natural Foods is making headway with supply chain improvements, and CEO Sandy Douglas said the supply chain is the wholesaler's biggest opportunity during an investor conference on Monday. Douglas also said UNFI could be interested in merger and acquisition opportunities that help the company "build capability to run our core strategy," but it is unlikely to make any retail acquisitions resulting from the pending merger of Kroger and Albertsons.

Wholesale inventories rose 1% in November, bringing the inventories-to-sales ratio to its highest level in almost 2-1/2 years, according to the Commerce Department. November wholesale inventories were 20.9% greater than the previous year, which could contribute to GDP gains.

Determining whether your distribution company is providing what customers want and need, as well as ensuring that digital innovation is a priority, can provide a path forward and help block out worries about potential economic trouble down the road, writes Mike Marks, founding partner at Indian River Consulting Group. Distributors can also ask themselves whether the sales team could use an overhaul and if leaders are transparent and communicative with employees, Marks writes.

The increasingly important digital transformation and environmental, social and governance missions can dovetail, as technology is designed to address human challenges and can be conceived with an eye toward sustainability, Lenovo Chairman and CEO Yuanqing Yang writes. Large companies, especially, can leverage their size to influence ESG results among supply chain partners, Yang notes.

Customer happiness, targeted thought leadership content and experimentation, particularly with influencers, are among the nine business-to-business marketing trends identified this year by various industry experts. "Let's resist becoming ROI junkies; this is the time to test, learn and play the longer game," says Randi Stipes, chief marketing officer of IBM Watson Advertising and The Weather Company.

Learning to balance "soft" leadership skills of inspiration and development of their team with "hard" ones such as accountability and driving performance during a crisis is something all leaders must master, write Bob Vanourek and Gregg Vanourek, who call the two different styles "steel" and "velvet." "Such flexing between steel and velvet should always be anchored in the organization's shared values," they write.

Five qualities separate great leaders from the rest, says Robin Landa, a distinguished professor at Kean University, including acting with integrity, creating a diverse and equitable culture, and using stories to inspire and motivate those around them. "[A] leader must have insight and vision, however it's critical for them to get everyone working towards a shared vision and goals, often crafting a vision collectively," Landa says.