The retail market continues to be impacted by the embracement of omnichannel shopping. Consumers’ acceptance of purchasing consumer packaged goods (CPGs) from a variety of retail outlets as well as their desire for more choice is not just impacting retailers but the entire distribution network as it looks to accommodate a much more diverse shopping universe.

“We continue to see distributors dealing with more SKUs to manage and more accounts to service,” says Larry Edelson, marketing director for VIP, Colchester, Vt. “Maybe their total SKU count isn’t increasing as much as it did over the last several years, but there’s a lot of churning as new products are introduced and others are discontinued. And there are new accounts popping up all the time, and different types of accounts as online ordering and delivery becomes a viable distribution channel.