As consolidation sweeps across distribution, we’ve watched industries, such as Foodservice, face the same pressures now emerging in JanSan: mega-mergers among national players, deep-pocketed competitors investing heavily in AI and eCommerce, and smaller independents wondering how to compete.

Here’s the good news - the ones that thrived didn’t try to outspend the giants. They won by moving faster, leaning into technology, and doubling down on relationships.

Independent distributors in the Paper, Plastics, and JanSan industries can do the same.

Operators Crave Experience, Not Just Supply

Whether you serve property managers, schools, healthcare facilities, or public institutions, your customers face the same pressures as restaurant operators:

• Labor shortages that limit their ability to chase down vendors or place multiple orders
• Tightening budgets that demand cost-saving ideas, not just catalog lists
• Sustainability and safety mandates that require new products and better tracking

They’re not just buying paper products or chemicals, they’re looking for a trusted partner who can deliver:

• A smooth, tech-enabled ordering experience
• Quick, reliable fulfillment
• Proactive, creative solutions—like sustainable alternatives or cost-effective substitutions
• A consultative relationship, not just a transaction

The DSR of the Future: Lessons from Foodservice

Bowie Cheung’s Now’s Your Chance blog points out that independents who adopt tech early can capture share while the big guys are distracted integrating acquisitions. The business partnership between independent distributors and their customers rely on human connection, but those connections really thrive when the transactional parts of the relationship are handed off to AI powered platforms.

Pepper has seen this firsthand: AI is the enabler, not the replacement. It frees reps from order-taking and admin so they can spend more time building trust, solving problems, and creating value.

Playbook: Earn Like the Big Guys, Stay Independent

Andrew’s “Earn Like the Big 3” blueprint applies just as well to JanSan as it does to foodservice:

• Monetize digital traffic with built-in ad modules, search displays, promo banners, sample triggers, so your site becomes a profit center.
• Activate national brand programs easily through a unified platform that minimizes admin work and maximizes supplier leverage.
• Launch local promotions with supplier co-op funds and track ROI without dev overhead.
  
  

The takeaway: own your traffic, run smarter promos, and let suppliers help fund your growth. You can capture margins like the big guys without their overhead.

Why Tech Is the Great Equalizer

JanSan independents don’t need massive IT budgets to deliver a premium experience. Modern distributor platforms now allow you to:

• Present rich, searchable product catalogs tuned to your industry’s language
• Deliver fast, seamless payments and checkout across web and mobile
• Build promotions and scalable revenue streams while keeping control of your brand

The Time to Lead Is Now

The parallels between foodservice and JanSan are clear: consolidation will keep coming, but scale doesn’t guarantee service. The independents who win will be those who:

• Double down on relationships and local knowledge
• Equip their reps with AI-augmented, mobile-first tools
• Turn their websites into marketing and revenue machines
• Blend human expertise with digital convenience

Other industries, like Foodservice, have shown the playbook. Now JanSan has the chance to run it.

Want talk about it? Let’s discuss.

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