Wholesale Industry Trends & Statistics 2025

Q: What are the most important wholesale industry trends in 2025?

Wholesale in 2025 is shaped by digitization, B2B ecommerce growth, AI automation, sustainability initiatives, and omnichannel selling. Buyers expect DTC-quality online ordering, real-time inventory, and accurate product data.

Q: How large is the wholesale market in 2025?

The global wholesale market is estimated at $57–60 trillion in 2025 and is projected to reach over $73 trillion by 2029. B2B ecommerce represents approximately $32 trillion of this total and continues to grow rapidly.

Q: Which wholesale product categories are experiencing the fastest growth?

High-growth wholesale categories include beauty, health and wellness, sustainable goods, performance apparel, golf and resortwear, tactical gear, and outdoor products. Demand is driven by sustainability, omnichannel readiness, and reliable replenishment.

Q: What predictions define where wholesale is heading over the next 3–5 years?

Wholesale is expected to see deeper AI adoption, stronger sustainability requirements, expanded B2B ecommerce, omnichannel convergence, and increased use of vertical-specific platforms. Digital transactions may surpass 80% of all B2B sales.

Chapter I: Introduction
Chapter II: What Do Wholesale Statistics Tell Us About the Market in 2025?
Chapter III: How Is the Wholesale Market Breaking Down by Region and Industry in 2025?
Chapter IV: Which Product Categories and Niches Are Driving Wholesale Growth in 2025?
Chapter V: What Are the Biggest Wholesale Industry Trends in 2025?
Chapter VI: What Do 2025 Wholesale Trends Mean for Brands, Retailers, and Distributors Today?
Chapter VIII: Conclusion
Chapter VIII FAQ

Chapter I: Introduction

Wholesale is no longer “the quiet channel behind retail.”

In 2025, wholesale distribution is a multi–tens-of-trillions-of-dollars engine that underpins most global retail, with digital B2B channels, AI, and automation reshaping how goods move from manufacturers to shelves and screens.

Estimates put the global wholesale market at around $57–60 trillion in 2025, with continued growth projected through 2029 at roughly 6% compound annual growth. At the same time, global B2B ecommerce alone is projected at about $32.1 trillion in 2025, and analysts expect B2B to account for more than 80% of all digital commerce revenue.

For brands, retailers, and journalists looking for authoritative wholesale industry trends. This page serves as a hub: market size, regional dynamics, product category shifts, technology and sustainability trends, and a big-picture view of top wholesale marketplaces and platforms.

Most macro data agrees on one thing: wholesale is big, growing, and getting more digital. A recent global wholesale market study values the sector at $57.73 trillion in 2025, up from $53.8 trillion in 2024, a year-over-year growth of about 7.3%.

The same report projects the market to reach $73.13 trillion by 2029 at a 6.1% CAGR, driven by economic growth, supply chain efficiency gains, product diversification, and logistics innovation.

Zooming in, the U.S. wholesale industry alone is estimated at around $10–17.5 trillion in 2025, depending on definition and subsegment, and is growing faster than the broader economy. Distribution-focused research suggests U.S. wholesale distribution revenue is on track for mid-single-digit growth in 2025 and accelerating in 2026.

Meanwhile, wholesale is increasingly powered by digital channels. Multiple sources put the global B2B ecommerce market at roughly $32.1–32.8 trillion in 2025, with forecasts in the $60+ trillion range by 2030, implying mid-teens compound growth.

One enterprise report estimates that by the end of 2025, 80% of B2B sales will be generated digitally, up from 13% in 2019, an almost complete inversion of how wholesale buying happens.

For brands and distributors, these statistics underscore a simple reality: wholesale is both enormous and increasingly digital-first.

Platforms like RepSpark (focused on B2B ecommerce for apparel, footwear, golf, and outdoor) exist precisely because the industry is shifting from fax and spreadsheets to unified, omnichannel buying experiences.

Regional data shows Asia-Pacific driving the largest share of growth in global wholesale trade, followed by North America and Europe. Asia-Pacific’s dominance is tied to its manufacturing hubs, export-driven economies, and rapid adoption of mobile-first B2B platforms.

Studies on the retail and wholesale sector additionally confirm that Asia-Pacific has emerged as the largest regional market, with North America close behind in total retail and wholesale output.

Within wholesale, specific sub-industries show distinct profiles.

The industrial distribution market alone is estimated at about $8.8 trillion in 2025, with a projected CAGR of just over 4% through 2034.

The broader retail-and-wholesale umbrella is projected to grow from about $93.6 trillion in 2025 to over $126 trillion by 2034.

In category terms, analysts highlight that much of the recent and projected wholesale growth comes from:

Consumer goods and FMCG distribution.
Health and wellness products, including nutraceuticals and personal care.
Fashion, footwear, and lifestyle (where wholesale remains the primary route to market for many brands).
B2B marketplaces serving long-tail SMB buyers.

Brands in verticals like apparel, golf, resort, and outdoor, which RepSpark specializes in, are benefitting from this regional growth while facing new pressure to modernize catalog management, inventory visibility, and wholesale ordering to serve increasingly digital-first buyers.

In 2025, wholesale growth has not been evenly distributed.

Reports point to health and wellness, beauty, sustainable consumer goods, and technical or performance apparel as outsized contributors to wholesale expansion, in part because retailers are leaning on brands to provide assortment depth and differentiation in crowded markets.

Within consumer and lifestyle segments, retailers are increasingly looking for:

Sustainable or eco-forward products, including recycled textiles, reduced-packaging SKUs, and traceable supply chains.
Omnichannel-ready assortments, where wholesale product data can be easily ported into retailers’ ecommerce sites and marketplaces.
Niche and specialty lines, such as golf apparel, tactical gear, resortwear, and outdoor brands designed for specific subcultures or sports communities.

RepSpark’s own analysis of wholesale trends in 2025 highlights that buyers now expect B2B shopping to feel like DTC: clean product pages, fast ordering, mobile-ready experiences, and clear inventory status.

That expectation is particularly strong in high-touch segments like golf and resort pro shops, where brands win by offering rich product content and simple, repeatable reordering.

Most 2025 wholesale industry trends cluster around four themes: sustainability, supply chain innovation, omnichannel selling, and automation/AI.

Sustainability and ESG pressure.
Analysts note that sustainability concerns are now a direct growth driver in wholesale, influencing everything from product mix to supplier selection. Reports point to rising demand for eco-friendly products, sustainable packaging, and transparent supply chains.

Supply chain innovation and resilience.
Supply chain surveys emphasize digitization, cloud-based solutions, and real-time visibility as top investment priorities. One major trend report notes that cloud computing and storage are approaching 82% adoption in supply chain software, while logistics strategies increasingly focus on resilience, scenario planning, and automation.

Omnichannel and the B2B–DTC convergence.
B2B buyers now expect the same frictionless experience they get as consumers. Shopify’s B2B trends research estimates that around 80% of B2B sales will be transacted digitally by 2025, with marketplaces, self-service portals, and hybrid workflows (rep + portal) dominating. RepSpark’s 2025 wholesale trends piece echoes this, describing a shift toward consumer-grade UX in B2B: always-on carts, rich imagery, and intuitive navigation inside B2B portals.

Automation and AI in pricing, merchandising, and operations.
From robotics in warehouses to AI-driven demand forecasting, automation is rapidly reshaping wholesale. Supply chain trend reports highlight automation, real-time visibility, and workforce augmentation as critical to handling complexity and labor constraints.

B2B platforms increasingly incorporate AI features so that sales and ops teams can focus on strategy rather than repetitive tasks.

RepSpark sits directly in this trend cluster: as a B2B platform for wholesale apparel and lifestyle brands, it combines digital catalogs, inventory-integrated ordering, and emerging AI-driven insights to help brands and retailers act on these macro shifts rather than react to them.

For brands, the 2025 landscape means that wholesale success is increasingly tied to digital maturity. Retailers now expect self-service B2B portals, real-time inventory, and clean product content, not static PDFs and manual order forms.

In categories like apparel, golf, and outdoor, brands that still rely on spreadsheets and emails are losing orders to competitors that offer smoother digital experiences and better data.

For retailers, the rise of B2B marketplaces and digital platforms means more choice but also more noise. Buyers need tools that help them filter, compare, and manage assortments while protecting margin and reducing operational overhead.

Wholesale partners who provide reliable data, easy reorders, and clear sustainability narratives are becoming preferred suppliers.

For distributors and wholesalers, trends in automation, supply chain resilience, and AI are no longer aspirational. They are competitive necessities.

RepSpark’s role in this environment is to give brands and retailers in specific verticals (apparel, footwear, golf, outdoor, lifestyle) an industry-tuned B2B ecommerce infrastructure: digital line sheets, assortments, real-time inventory sync, and AI-powered ordering insights, so they can participate fully in these macro trends without building everything from scratch.

The wholesale industry in 2025 is defined by scale, speed, and transformation. With global trade surpassing $57 trillion and B2B ecommerce reshaping how brands and retailers connect, this is one of the most pivotal moments in the history of wholesale commerce.

Trends like sustainability, supply chain digitization, AI adoption, and the rise of vertical-specific marketplaces are accelerating at once, creating both unprecedented opportunity and heightened competition.

Brands that embrace data, digital tools, and seamless B2B experiences will not only keep pace with the industry’s evolution but shape its future.

What are the most important wholesale industry trends in 2025?
Wholesale in 2025 is defined by rapid digitization, growth in B2B ecommerce, AI-driven automation, sustainability requirements, and omnichannel integration. Buyers expect DTC-quality online ordering, accurate product data, and real-time inventory visibility. Marketplaces are expanding, but industry-specific platforms are gaining traction because they better support complex workflows.

How large is the wholesale market in 2025?
Global wholesale trade is estimated at $57–60 trillion in 2025, with projections reaching over $73 trillion by 2029. B2B ecommerce accounts for roughly $32 trillion of this total and represents the majority of digital commerce worldwide. Growth is strongest in Asia-Pacific, with North America and Europe close behind.

Which wholesale product categories are experiencing the fastest growth?
High-growth categories in 2025 include health and wellness, beauty, sustainable consumer goods, technical/performance apparel, and niche verticals such as golf, resortwear, tactical gear, and outdoor products. Retailers are gravitating toward brands offering sustainability transparency, omnichannel-ready product data, and reliable replenishment programs.

What predictions define where wholesale is heading over the next 3–5 years?
Analysts predict major expansion in B2B ecommerce, with digital transactions expected to exceed 80% of all B2B sales. AI will drive forecasting, pricing, merchandising, and warehouse automation. Sustainability will shift from a “nice-to-have” to a compliance requirement. Omnichannel convergence will continue as brands consolidate wholesale and DTC operations into unified systems. Vertical B2B platforms will gain more relevance as marketplaces become saturated and retailers seek curated, high-quality supply ecosystems.