Having worked for a large multinational distributor, my experience has been limited value-add opportunities in pure product sales. In difficult times, this often resulted in margin compression (suppliers maintain pricing while customers search for value pricing). The opportunity for us had been to grow complementary service offerings that we could cross-sell with the products. If you go down this route, I'd suggest looking for exclusive rights to a brand with a strong following and where there is opportunity to add value through complementary, non-compete offerings.

I have looked at SMBs in Wholesale/Distribution in Electronics & Automotive parts. In my experience the challenges are 1) Lower end of margins <10% EBIT, 2) Mostly owner-run businesses with heavy dependencies on owner & 3) Most important - value add is minimal to drive pricing. On the positive side, easier business to understand and takeover, if one can hire a good operator to replace owner.