Industrial Distribution's 58th Annual Survey of Distributor Operations shows that distributors are adding brands and lines at a rapid rate. Forty-two percent of the 800 distributors who responded to the survey said they will increase the number of product lines they carry, 50 percent expect to keep the same number of lines, and only 8 percent expect a decrease in the number of lines.

About 30 percent of distributors said they will add to the number of brands they carry, 59 percent expect to keep the same number of brands, and 11 percent say they will decrease brands.

Distributors clearly are looking to add new lines as well as brands to their inventory. And distributors tell us that the reason for this churn in the marketplace is that customers are asking them to carry more products. Customers also are telling distributors they want more innovative products and a greater variety of products to choose from.

The study also showed that 56 percent of distributors believe their influence over brand decisions is on the rise, while 44 percent disagreed. Mark Dancer, vice president of Pembroke Consulting, who wrote an overview of this year's study, says he expected a larger percentage of distributors to claim brand influence as a strong competency.

"If distributors are unsure about their influence on brand, you can expect customers to share a similar view," he wrote.

Many distributors are adding to their lines and purchasing products from master distributors. Fifty-six percent of the respondents said they now buy product from these master distributors, with some distributors telling us "this helps level the playing field for smaller distributors, such as myself." Even more noticeable, these distributors say they'll be buying more products from master distributors over the next three years.

It is becoming increasingly important for distributors to offer their customers more brand and product selection, because customers are continuing to reduce their distribution base.

The only complaints some customers have shared with us about distributors is that their inventory supply seems low and they're not providing enough product support.

We'll have more information on that criticism in upcoming editorials.