New EDA survey reveals urgency for transformation in electrical wholesale
The Electrical Distributors' Association (EDA) has just released its Q1 2025 State of the Sector Survey, and the findings are clear.
Electrical wholesalers are facing significant challenges, from escalating operating costs to intensified market competition. The survey highlights five major cost challenges facing the sector:
- Rising wage expenses
- Increasing energy and rent costs
- Higher insurance premiums
- Elevated supplier prices
- Margin erosion due to growing online competition
With traditional overheads rising sharply, the priority for wholesalers is simple, boost efficiency or risk falling behind.
Orderwise, a longstanding Affiliated Solution Provider of the EDA, is helping electrical distributors respond directly to these challenges. By driving smarter ways of working, our warehousing, stock control and ERP solutions help wholesalers to:
- Reduce operational overheads by automating manual processes across warehousing, stock management, and order fulfilment.
- Optimise stock levels to free up working capital and reduce holding costs.
- Maximise productivity with streamlined workflows, helping businesses achieve more with the same or fewer resources.
- Support new revenue streams by enabling ecommerce, click-and-collect and next-day delivery services without adding significant overhead.
- Access accurate, standardised product data through our integration with EDATA, reducing admin time and improving sales efficiency.
Having worked with over 100 UK electrical distributors, many of them EDA members, we know the sector’s challenges aren’t new. The growing dominance of online marketplaces and the rising expectation for seamless digital buying experiences continue to threaten traditional wholesale models. Without adapting, businesses risk losing ground to faster, more digital-savvy competitors.
What’s more, the survey revealed that wholesalers are already looking beyond today’s challenges. Sustainability is firmly on the radar, with 9% already entering the heat pump market and another 22% planning to follow. Orderwise helps businesses stay agile and ready to capitalise on these new opportunities, without increasing strain on day-to-day operations.
Richard Appleton, General Manager at EDA Data Services, emphasises the importance of digital solutions:
“Wholesalers need to be able to serve their contractor customers through a variety of different sales channels and enable them to purchase online but, historically, there are several barriers to overcome.
There’s the time-consuming and resource-heavy exercise of obtaining high-quality product data as well as selecting the appropriate software partner for the business. The EDATA data pool can provide a central source of manufacturer product data which wholesalers can access through subscription, and we look forward to working with Orderwise to continue integrating this service into their software.”
At Orderwise, we remain committed to helping electrical distributors become more competitive, more efficient and better prepared for whatever comes next. To discover what that might look like for your business, get in touch today.