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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Resistance of traditional wholesalers: a dichotomy of flows within the distribution channel

subject

description

The wholesaler has often been threatened with the risk of disintermediation both upstream and downstream of the distribution channel. Wholesalers, in their role as intermediaries, remain established in many sectors. The Internet has also generated a current of re-intermediation via digital platforms. The article starts from the premise that wholesalers are always essential players in the distribution channel and increase their value proposition through services and digital. As part of a qualitative study in the French market for the sale of building materials, an interesting phenomenon emerged. It is the partial disintermediation of wholesalers for the benefit of industrialists. This partial disintermediation is based on the management of physical flows, which remain at the expense of the wholesaler, and information flows increasingly captured and controlled by the industrialist.