11th April, 2025
From rising costs to evolving customer expectations, the wholesale distribution (WD) industry in Australia and New Zealand is under pressure to adapt fast. Businesses that can streamline operations, embrace automation and align with changing market dynamics will find themselves in a strong position for growth.
Here are the three big trends shaping the sector in 2025 and what they mean for business leaders in wholesale distribution.
Australia’s post-pandemic economic landscape has been anything but steady. Interest rate hikes, energy price volatility, and general inflation have driven up input costs for distributors across the board. While demand for goods remains solid, profit margins are being squeezed, and businesses are feeling the pressure to do more with less.
According to CBA’s Gearing for Growth report, 44% of supply chain businesses say rising input costs are the number one pressure on performance right now. For many, these costs are coming from all directions — shipping, warehousing, fuel, materials, and wages.
To combat this, leading wholesale distributors are zeroing in on cost control and automation. Whether it’s introducing more efficient workflows, managing price variances in procurement more tightly, or standardising return processes with clear prepayment policies, the key is to identify and eliminate operational waste.
As seen at MYOB Discover Live 2025, innovations like automated approvals for purchase price variances (PPVs) are already helping businesses stay in control of vendor costs and maintain margin discipline.
In a market where overheads are climbing, gathering insights from your data, and using these to implement more efficient processes via automation, is paramount to staying profitable.
Wholesale is no longer shielded from the expectations of the digital age. B2B customers now demand the same level of convenience, transparency, and speed that they get as consumers.
This means distributors need to think beyond product availability and pricing. Customers want:
At MYOB Discover Live 2025, we learnt that features like volume pricing and quantity rules for online stores (such as Shopify) are now being implemented by more distributors to cater to both small and bulk buyers.
The rise of value-added services, such as custom packaging, bundling, and proprietary product lines, signals a shift in how businesses are looking to differentiate themselves in a competitive market.
For businesses that can respond quickly to evolving customer needs, there’s a real opportunity to expand into new markets, diversify product offerings, and build deeper long-term relationships with buyers.
Even as demand grows, distributors are facing another critical challenge: productivity constraints.
Labour shortages, rising wages, and workforce churn are making it harder to maintain performance using traditional staffing models. In fact, nearly half (43%) of wholesale businesses are actively reskilling or upskilling staff in response to the pressure, according to Gearing for Growth.
But skills alone aren’t enough — technology must carry some of the load. In the warehouse, businesses are turning to smart workflows and automation to gain efficiency. MYOB Discover Live 2025 showcased how features like:
These advancements don’t just save time. They allow smaller teams to achieve the same (or greater) output as larger ones.
It’s a mindset shift: from growing by headcount to scaling through systems.
The takeaway from 2025’s Discover Live is clear. Distributors that embrace digital tools, redefine their value propositions, and invest in workforce optimisation are positioning themselves for long-term success.
Whether it’s refining your return policy, enhancing your eCommerce offerings, or improving internal logistics, incremental changes are adding up to major gains across the industry.
As distributors plan their next move, it’s worth asking yourself:
Wholesale distribution might not always grab headlines, but it’s the engine behind retail, manufacturing, and the broader economy. In 2025, it’s clear that the distributors leading the pack aren’t just delivering better products, they’re delivering smarter ways of doing business.
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