Distribution Strategy Group to launch AI leaderboard highlighting industry execution gaps

Distribution Strategy Group unveils its AI Top 50 ranking to distinguish wholesale distributors that have embedded artificial intelligence into their operations from those still at the exploration stage, aiming to accelerate industry-wide adoption and accountability.

Distribution Strategy Group is preparing to put wholesale distributors on an AI leaderboard, with a new ranking designed to separate those that are merely talking about artificial intelligence from those that have actually embedded it into day-to-day operations.

The AI Top 50 will be released in two stages. DSG plans to publish an AI Top 25 on 23 June at the Applied AI for Distribution Conference in Chicago, before expanding the list to a full Top 50 in October at the UK AI Forum. The first release will focus on the companies it says are furthest along, while the second will complete the picture by including firms still at earlier stages of adoption.

The ranking is being built from 55 companies and 34 data points for each one, with DSG saying it will score deployed use cases, the depth of each firm’s technology stack, evidence of executive support, measurable outcomes and the quality of the available proof. According to the company, the emphasis is on what distributors have actually implemented rather than what they have promised, said they plan to do or described in self-reported surveys.

That distinction matters because DSG’s recent research suggests the industry still has a long way to go. In one study, the group found that 93% of wholesale distributors said AI was a priority, but only 16% had moved beyond exploration. Another report found that 63% of leaders were still in the exploring or piloting phases, while only 4% said AI sat at the centre of strategy. The broader pattern is one of strong intent but uneven execution.

DSG has also argued that the real constraint in distribution is not simply access to technology, but the ability to connect it. Its April research found that 55% of North American distributors had invested in core systems without integrating them, leaving data fragmented and returns on investment weaker than expected. The AI ranking is intended to expose that gap as well, showing which companies are using AI across pricing, inventory, sales and warehouse operations, and which are still stranded at the pilot stage.

For DSG, the ranking is as much about accountability as analysis. By creating a public benchmark, the group is betting that comparison will push more companies to move from aspiration to execution. The June launch in Chicago will serve as the first test of that thesis, with the October update expected to show whether the industry has begun to close the distance between AI ambition and AI delivery.

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Source: Fuse Wire Services