Medical Equipment & Supply Wholesalers Industry Profile

Companies in this industry distribute professional medical equipment, instruments, and supplies to physicians, hospitals, and extended care facilities. Major companies include Henry Schein, McKesson Medical-Surgical, Owens & Minor, and Patterson Companies (all based in the US), along with EBOS Group (Australia), OneMed (Sweden), and Yamashita Medical Instruments (Japan).

The global medical devices market is forecast to grow from about $540 billion in 2023, reaching about $800 billion by 2039 at about 5.9% compound annual growth rate, according to Fortune Business Insights. The industry is driven by the increasing investment of medical technology companies in research and development (R&D).

The US medical equipment and supplies distribution industry includes more than 10,000 establishments (single-location companies and units of multi-location companies) with combined annual revenue of about $230 billion.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Pressure to control health care expenditures is intensifying price negotiations for wholesalers and prompting customers to consolidate. Many customers belong to group purchasing organizations (GPOs), which help negotiate bulk pricing. Loss of a major GPO relationship can have a significant impact on sales.

Besides competing with peers, distributors compete with manufacturers to sell products to end users. Highly complex and expensive equipment, such as MRI machines, is sold by manufacturers' salespeople. Competition with product manufacturers and other distributors is based on price, customer service, breadth of product line, and value-added services.

Large companies have economies of scale in purchasing, as well as highly developed infrastructure that allow ...