Distribution Solutions Group (DSG) is leaning more heavily on ecommerce, artificial intelligence (AI) and digital tools across its business.
The industrial and specialty distributor is working to improve customer service, sharpen sales execution and build new growth channels.
Executives said on the company’s Q4 earnings call that digital commerce remains a small part of overall sales, but it is growing quickly and increasingly bringing in new customers. At the same time, DSG is using AI-enabled tools, platform integration, and automation more broadly across multiple business units.
“We are investing to be a company that is easy to work with and for, leveraging digital and AI-enabled capabilities to respond faster to customer needs, improve operational efficiency, strengthen sales rigor and capture margin opportunities,” CEO J. Bryan King said on the call.
DSG ecommerce revenue growth in Q4 2025
The Fort Worth, Texas-based distributor’s businesses include Lawson Products, Gexpro Services and TestEquity. DSG reported full-year revenue of $1.98 billion in 2025, up 9.8% from $1.80 billion in 2024. The company reported net income of $8.3 million, compared with a net loss of $7.3 million the previous year.
In its fiscal Q4, DSG revenue totaled $481.6 million. That’s up 0.2% from $480.5 million in the same quarter a year earlier. The company reported a net loss of $6.4 million, compared with a $25.9 million loss in the year-ago quarter, according to the company’s earnings release.
That message marked one of the clearer updates yet from DSG on how ecommerce and AI are moving from broad strategy to practical use inside the business.
At Lawson Products, DSG said its ecommerce business continued to grow at a double-digit rate in Q4. King said the online channel “continues to deliver double-digit growth.” He added that “more than 30% of customers purchasing through the site are new to Lawson.”
Chief financial officer Ron Knutson gave a more specific figure. He said Lawson “experienced about an 18% revenue growth” in Q4 through ecommerce, noting that online sales still represent a small share of the overall business.
Management said the online channel is important not only because it is growing, but because it is attracting customers that Lawson did not previously serve. That matters as DSG tries to rebuild momentum with smaller local accounts, an area executives said has lagged while the company focused more heavily on larger strategic customers and sales force changes.
How DSG is growing ecommerce sales through AI
King said DSG is also deploying digital tools to help sales teams spend more time with customers and less time on the road. He said the company is “in the early stages of rolling out across our field customer-facing team, a route optimization tool” it designed to reduce travel time and give representatives “more of an opportunity to serve and grow our customers.”
The company also said it is relying more heavily on customer relationship management software, training tools and data insights to improve the consistency of sales activity and customer support.
At Gexpro Services, DSG said AI and automation are expanding higher-value service offerings. King said the DSG unit is “expanding its value-added service offerings using robotic automation and AI-enabled tools that enhance customer capabilities across VMI, kitting, manufacturing and ecommerce solutions.”
That business serves customers in markets such as aerospace and defense, technology, industrial power and renewables. King also tied some of DSG’s investment priorities directly to AI-related demand. He said the company continues to invest in technology and industrial power markets “driven by expanding infrastructure needs and increasing AI-driven demand.”
At TestEquity Group, executives described a broader digital overhaul already underway. King said the company has “major initiatives underway to simplify and unify the digital ecosystem.” Those include efforts around enterprise software consolidation, customer service and ecommerce platform integration.
“Enhancing the customer experience through ERP consolidation, customer service and ecommerce platform integration is foundational to our strategy, and we are actively leveraging AI applications to accelerate execution,” King said.
Focus on higher-value offerings
That effort is part of a wider push at TestEquity to focus more on higher-value offerings and create a more connected customer experience across its businesses. Executives said they expect digital integration to:
- Help the company sell more effectively.
- Operate more efficiently.
- Better support customers across product categories.
Even with those investments, DSG did not portray ecommerce or AI as immediate game changers for overall company performance. Instead, executives presented them as tools that can gradually strengthen how the business operates and competes.
King said the company’s digital and AI efforts are being supported by “an accelerating level of data-driven insights that guide and improve decision-making” and help DSG improve the customer experience across a wide and complex operation.
“Operating across more than 50 countries, serving over 220,000 customers with approximately 760,000 unique products requires agility and focus,” King said.
The company’s comments suggest DSG’s digital strategy is now becoming more concrete in three areas:
- Using ecommerce to win new customers at Lawson.
- Applying AI and automation to service-heavy operations at Gexpro Services.
- Integrating systems and digital platforms at TestEquity.
What is new is not a major standalone technology launch, but a broader sign that DSG is embedding digital commerce and AI deeper into day-to-day operations. Management is increasingly describing those efforts not as experimental projects, but as practical tools for improving customer service, sales productivity, and long-term growth.
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