B2B Wholesale & Distribution in Germany: Insolvency.
In the ten years leading up to 2020, the German wholesale industry saw a decline of around 34,000 businesses, as reported by the Statistisches Bundesamt. So has the total number of companies in wholesale trade (excluding trade in motor vehicles) in Germany fallen continuously in recent years, most recently to around 135,000 in 2020. Farewell wholesaler?
This depressing trend has been exacerbated by a recent uptick in insolvencies among industrial wholesale and retail companies, with several prominent names filing for bankruptcy. One of the most striking examples of this phenomenon is the collapse of the Praktiker umbrella company in 2013. Another recent sample, Ludwig Leuchten GmbH.
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Artificial Intelligence in Wholesale
AI in Wholesale Distribution is a great opportunity and a challenge at the same time. In this article, learn about concrete use cases of AI in wholesale and their benefits.
Wholesale companies are an indispensable part of the economy. They represent an essential link between the economic levels of industry, trade, and retail. A quote from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung describes the situation of wholesale companies very well:
"The former pure delivery wholesale, which brought the goods of the industry to the retail trade, has become a modern service provider facing additional challenges. The modern wholesaler takes over warehousing, does shelf maintenance, acts as a lender and advises its retail customers on assortment issues."
The different kinds of Wholesale Businesses
Wholesale businesses are all around us. From fueling the dropship revolution to supplying critical pandemic supplies worldwide; wholesalers are an important part of our economic infrastructure.
Research Germany explains, “the German wholesale and retail trade represents an annual turnover of 2.19 trillion Euros and 6.4 million employees. There are about 150,000 wholesalers and about 300,000 retailers.”
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Five Strategies for Raising Prices in Wholesale
Wholesale is also affected by global crises such as the Ukraine conflict and the Corona pandemic. On top of that, inflation is on the rise. Manufacturers' and suppliers' prices are rising. What strategies are available to raise prices in turn?
While private consumers are trembling over how high their next gas bill will be or by what factor their monthly gas bill will increase, many companies are already facing rising energy costs.
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Current Challenges in B2B Wholesale
Between supplier price pressure, supply chain problems and customer anger: Why wholesalers win with value-based customer management.
Many wholesalers are currently struggling with sudden increases in purchasing and cost prices as well as unprecedented restrictions on their own ability to deliver. This has consequences. According to a recent survey by the IFO Institute, 62.4% of wholesalers see the need to significantly increase sales prices in the near future.
In a press release, the Central Association of German Electrical Engineering Trades (ZVEH) angrily complains that orders for almost all relevant products can no longer be processed due to worsening supply bottlenecks in the wholesale trade.
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Is Dynamic Pricing Optimization in B2B Wholesale Financeable?
Wholesale market leaders are investing a lot of resources and expertise in advanced AI technologies for pricing optimization to set their prices dynamically. How can medium-sized wholesale companies also benefit from dynamic pricing?
Optimizing pricing in B2B wholesale is a big topic. No wonder pricing has the greatest leverage on margins. In our private lives, we have all had experiences with dynamic pricing. For example, at peak times, Amazon changes some product prices up to 70 times a week.
The History and Downfall of a German Wholesale Company "Wollschläger" - Part 4
It continues with the last part of the story and the downfall of the wholesale company "Wollschläger". What can wholesale companies learn from this? Click here, if you have not read part 3 yet.
The history of Sanistål dates back to the mid-19th century when several Danish metal entrepreneurs joined forces through a series of mergers.
In 1853, A. Schjøth started his business in Vejle. Twelve years later, L.S. Lange started selling castings in Aalborg. He would later take over Schjøth’s business.
The History and Downfall of a German Wholesale Company "Wollschläger" - Part 3
It continues with part 3 of the story and the downfall of the wholesale company "Wollschläger". What can wholesale companies learn from this? Click here, if you have not read part 2 yet.
As a company grows, integration, coordination, and profitability become critical. As a company grows, integration, coordination, and profitability become critical. You can sell more, and more, and more. If you are selling at a loss, you will soon run out of cash. Nonetheless, running out of money did not seem to be a problem in 2013 for Wollschläger.
Carsten Wollschläger, son of Frank, declared his family business “a real solid one”. And the past two decades seemed to prove him right. The Wollschläger group was 2013 a respected company in the Ruhr region and nationally.
The History and Downfall of a German Wholesale Company "Wollschläger" - Part 2
It continues with part 2 of the story and the downfall of the wholesale company "Wollschläger". What can wholesale companies learn from this? If you have not read part 1 yet, click here.
If acquiring an entire company (Essener Arbeitsschutz GmbH in 2007) was not a complex project already, the introduction of SAP (ERP, EWM, PI and BI) followed in 2009. In the same year, Haberstock left Hamburg for the headquarters in Bochum to work in controlling and in the e-procurement business area, under the name of fuxx4trade.
The Wollschläger Group now had 12 branches throughout Germany and employed over 600 people, including 130 sales field experts.
The History and Downfall of a German Wholesale Company "Wollschläger" - Part 1
How one of the biggest German industrial distributors went down – 79 Years of the Wollschläger Group.
In 1961, a 14-year-old ambitious young individual, Frank, sat alone in a car near an industrial building. He was cold. The region around Bochum is chilly in winter, with temperatures below 5°C on average. Coming from Gdańsk (Danzig in German) two years ago, he was now waiting for his father.
Heinz Wollschläger, was a successful company founder and businessman visiting a new customer. He had founded his company in 1937, before Frank was born, in Danzig, close to the former Poland border. Like many entrepreneurs, his story began in a garage.