Recognizing the leaders in AI
The AI conversation in wholesale distribution is shifting. We have spent the last 24 months watching distributors move from curiosity to pilots, from pilots to deployments, and from deployments into real operational change. The companies treating AI as competitive infrastructure are starting to separate from the ones still treating it as a slide in next year’s strategy deck.
That separation is now measurable. Today Distribution Strategy Group is announcing the inaugural AI Top 25, the first evidence-based ranking of AI maturity among North American wholesale distributors.
the AI 25 ranking for Distributors
The framework places companies across five tiers: Emerging, Functional, Integrated, Agentic, and Native. Tier placement is not based on press release volume or AI enthusiasm. It is built on deployed evidence: earnings transcripts, operational use cases, AI talent footprint, vendor partnerships, governance structure, customer-facing capability, and documented outcomes.
A few things to know about the program:
- The inaugural Top 25 will be announced at the Applied AI for Distribution conference in June.
- The expanded AI Top 50 follows in the fall as an ongoing benchmark.
- Companies under evaluation may be contacted directly for validation. We would rather get it right than get it fast.
- Tier placement is built for distribution operating environments, not adapted from generic enterprise frameworks.
Most distributors today sit in Tier 1 or Tier 2. Tier 3 represents real operational differentiation. Tier 4 and Tier 5 are rare, and we expect that to stay true for several reporting cycles.
The distribution companies building real AI capability are standing out from the crowd. DSG built the system to recognize them.
Apply To be considered for the top AI In Distribution Ranking
