'Virtual warehouse support' to drive distribution growth - GTDC

Distribution space expected to see 10 per cent growth by 2025

"Virtual warehouse support" is set to drive growth in distribution over the next five years, according to the Global Technology Distribution Council (GTDC).

The GTDC's latest research found that nearly two thirds of disties expect their business to grow by over 10 per cent by 2025.

It also said that virtual warehouse support - around software as a service and cloud solutions - will soon become "a primary distributor core competency and demand driver".

But GTDC CEO Frank Vitagliano said that the legacy distribution services will remain important.

"This study confirms that many long-term distributor core services are still extremely relevant in the digital era," he said.

"Distributor value is also on the rise. Corresponding business models and portfolios continue to evolve.

"Multi-vendor solutions are essential, and channel companies and vendors all want to work with distributors to deliver the products, solutions and specialized services consumers and businesses of all sizes need to thrive."

The GTDC says that its members, which include Ingram Micro and Arrow, have a combined revenue of over $150bn.

The report added that partner enablement, credit services and recruitment will be "of top overall importance".

Integration, logistics, inventory management and asset lifecycle services will "remain crucial", it said.