SideQuest by industry

Every distributor vertical has its own catalog quirks, customer mix, and PO formats. Pick yours for industry-specific buyer language, pricing models, and the gotchas SideQuest handles.

HVAC distributors

Compressors, refrigerant lines, condenser coils. Tonnage and BTU specs hide inside the description, not the PN. Fax-gateway PDFs, contractor POs, COD walk-ins.

Spec-in-description · Net-30 + COD · Seasonal volume

Plumbing wholesalers

Brass valves, copper fittings, PEX runs. Diameter and thread specs that don't always carry a clean part number. Plumber walk-ins plus service-company net accounts.

Diameter+thread specs · Trade counter · Job-site delivery

Electrical distributors

Wire by gauge and run length, breakers, conduit. Contractor accounts, electrical-service company POs, project-based net accounts with job numbers.

Gauge+run · Project net terms · Brand catalogs

Jan-San distributors

Janitorial and sanitary supplies for facilities, schools, healthcare. Case packs vs each, recurring weekly orders, route-day cutoffs.

Case packs · Weekly recurring · Facility ship-tos

Industrial MRO

Maintenance, repair, and ops parts for manufacturing plants. Long-tail SKUs, supplier cross-references, plant-floor urgent orders.

Long-tail SKUs · Plant urgency · Supplier x-refs

Medical supply distributors

Clinics, dental offices, urgent care, hospital systems. GPO contract pricing, lot/expiry tracking in QBO inventory, Excel spreadsheet attachments from Materials Management modules.

GPO contracts · Lot/expiry in QBO · Excel attachments

Foodservice distributors

Restaurants, schools, institutional kitchens. Case packs, broken-case math, chain-account contract pricing, route-day cutoffs, text-message-style emails from independents.

Case vs each · Route deadlines · Loose-format emails

Auto parts distributors

Repair shops, fleet maintenance, dealer warranty desks. OEM vs aftermarket cross-references, supersession part numbers, same-day delivery, VIN+claim metadata on warranty POs.

OEM cross-refs · Supersession · Same-day delivery

Fastener distributors

Bolts, nuts, screws, washers. Diameter, thread pitch, length, grade, finish encoded in one description string. Imperial and metric on the same draft.

Spec grids · Bulk POs · Quantity-break pricing

Building materials

Lumber yards and building supply. Dimensional specs, grades, treatments, special orders, job-site delivery dates and addresses straight off the PO header.

Dimensional SKUs · Special orders · GC accounts

Safety supply distributors

PPE, fall protection, traffic control. ANSI / ISEA / ASTM compliance specs in the part number. Construction, manufacturing, and municipal accounts.

Compliance specs · Size grids · Job-site ship-to

Welding supply distributors

Wire, rod, gas, consumables. AWS classifications, gas mixes, hazmat shipping, cylinder rentals and deposits routed correctly.

AWS classifications · Cylinder rentals · Hazmat

Petroleum & lubricants

Engine oil, hydraulics, gear lube, DEF. ISO VG / SAE / AGMA viscosity specs, packaging tiers from quart to bulk, fleet and industrial accounts.

Viscosity specs · Packaging tiers · Bulk delivery
Not on this list?

SideQuest works across most B2B distributor verticals running on QuickBooks Online. Drop us a note describing your catalog model and we'll cover the specific gotchas for your industry.

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