Welding & Gas
Gases & Welding Supplies 2026: Branch Density Wins, Digital Lags
Eighteen gas and welding distributors ranked and scored. F.W. Webb outscores Fastenal and Airgas on digital readiness despite a fraction of their revenue.
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Industry
Plumbing & PVF
Plumbing, pipe, valve, and fitting data — dimensions, materials, and compatibility that buyers filter on.
Plumbing & PVF
Top JanSan, Packaging & Disposables Distributors 2026
Three mergers reshaped JanSan, packaging and disposables distribution in 18 months. See the 2026 ranking, archetypes and Digital Readiness Index scores.
Plumbing & PVF
Top Industrial PVF Distributors 2026: Scale Meets Closed Catalogs
Eight major PVF distributors ranked by revenue and archetype, with the Digital Readiness Index showing why most of the vertical's scale sits behind a login wall.
Plumbing & PVF
Top Plumbing Distributors 2026: Size Doesn't Predict the Shelf
Six leading plumbing distributors ranked and scored on the Digital Readiness Index — where a $2.6B family business out-digitizes a $31.3B public giant.
Plumbing & PVF
Top HVACR Distributors 2026: Scale vs. Branch Density
Grainger tops HVACR's Digital Readiness Index at 66, ahead of every specialist, while Ferguson, the vertical's largest revenue player, scores lowest at 58.
Plumbing & PVF
Top Building Materials & Construction Distributors 2026
Twenty major building materials distributors ranked by revenue and archetype, with a Digital Readiness Index read on why only one carries a score so far.
Plumbing & PVF
Top MRO Industrial Distributors 2026: Scale vs. Digital Shelf
Ferguson and Grainger top MRO distribution's revenue table but land at opposite ends of the Digital Readiness Index across the 25 companies on the MDM MRO list.
Electrical
Electrical & Security Distribution: Scale Isn't the Digital Shelf
Six of 40 electrical, data, and security distributors now hold a measured DRI; Grainger leads at 66, while the group's biggest name, Wesco, scores lowest at 40.
Plumbing & PVF
Top Industrial Supplies Distributors 2026: The Digital Shelf Gap
Ferguson leads industrial supply by revenue but posts the weakest product-data score of the group. Grainger, MSC and F.W. Webb top the Digital Readiness Index.
Plumbing & PVF
Reece USA: A Melbourne Family's $1.9 Billion American Bet
Reece USA ranks #3 in plumbing on the 2026 MDM Top Distributors list. Here is how a 105-year-old Australian family business built it through the MORSCO acquisition.
Plumbing & PVF
Locke Supply Co: How an Employee-Owned Distributor Wins
Locke Supply Co charted at Elec #39 on MDM's 2025 Top Distributors list and does not appear on the 2026 lists. Here's how a 100% employee-owned wholesaler built 200+ branches without a PE backer.
Plumbing & PVF
How Hajoca Turns 450 Branches Into Owner-Run Businesses
Hajoca ranks #4 in MDM's 2026 plumbing distributor list by treating branch managers as owners across 60+ trade names, then buying HVAC scale to match.
Plumbing & PVF
F.W. Webb: How a Family-Owned Distributor Outlasted 160 Years
F.W. Webb ranks #6 in Plumbing and #9 in HVACR on MDM's 2026 Top Distributors list. Here's how a Depression-era buyout built a 160-year family dynasty.
Plumbing & PVF
Winsupply: The Distributor Built Like 680 Small Businesses
Winsupply hit $8.4B not by centralizing branches like its peers, but by giving each one away in pieces. Here is how that bet from 1958 still shapes it.
Plumbing & PVF
How Ferguson Outgrew the British Company That Bought It
Ferguson tops MDM's 2026 Plumbing list at No. 1. The stranger story: it grew big enough to rename, then shed, the UK parent that once owned it.
Plumbing & PVF
What messy product data actually costs Plumbing & PVF distributors
Plumbing & PVF distributors lose sales to incomplete SKU data, thin PDPs, and AI-search invisibility. Here's what's broken and what it's costing.
Plumbing & PVF
Cutting wrong-part returns in plumbing & pvf with better product data
Why plumbing & PVF distributors lose margin to wrong-part returns, the exact fields buyers need on a valve page, and a checklist to close the gap.
Plumbing & PVF
How plumbing & pvf buyers search now — and why your catalog isn't the answer
Plumbing and PVF buyers now ask AI answer engines before they open a distributor site. Thin ERP feeds make catalogs invisible to those engines.
Plumbing & PVF
Why plumbing & pvf feeds lose to marketplaces — and how to close the gap
Plumbing and PVF feeds keep losing marketplace shelf space to thin data. The identifier, attribute, and content bar marketplaces enforce, and how to hit it.
Plumbing & PVF
Why plumbing & pvf SKUs go invisible: the attribute gaps that filter you out
A missing connection type or pressure rating drops a PVF SKU from filtered search entirely. Here's the attribute set that keeps valves and fittings findable.