Introducing our new Benchmarking Tool: Data-driven insights for last mile distributors

How do you know whether your business is performing at its full potential? The GDC Benchmarking Tool helps you compare your organisation against real sector data, identify opportunities for improvement, and make more confident business decisions in minutes.

See where you stand in the sector 

Built specifically for last mile distributors, the Benchmarking Tool uses real-world sector data to benchmark performance across 23 key performance indicators (KPIs). The results provide valuable insights into how your business measures up against peers, helping you identify strengths, prioritise improvement efforts, and make more informed decisions. 

Participants can assess their performance across key business areas, including: 

• Value proposition 

• Sales and marketing 

• Backend infrastructure and overheads 

Users receive ratings for each KPI, indicating whether performance represents best practice, good performance, an area that can be improved, or has not yet been measured. 

More than a score 

The Benchmarking Tool doesn’t just tell you where you stand, it helps you understand why results look the way they do and what actions you can take next. Each completed benchmark includes tailored guidance explaining results, identifying potential drivers of underperformance, and signposting relevant GDC resources that can help organisations strengthen their capabilities and improve outcomes. Results can be downloaded as a PDF report and saved within the platform, allowing organisations to track progress over time and measure the impact of improvements. 

Designed to save time and improve accuracy

The new Benchmarking Tool replaces manual spreadsheets with a faster, more intuitive benchmarking experience. It is now available in a fully digital format, allowing distributors to complete their assessment online at their own pace. Clear step-by-step guidance helps users progress through each section, while all 23 KPIs are calculated automatically. 

 Results are saved within the platform, making it easy to track progress over time and compare previous assessments side by side. A new “Ask the GDC chatbot” is also built in, providing answers to questions and directing users to relevant resources based on their results. 

Key benefits include: 

• Guided questions that reduce errors and improve accuracy 

• Automatic KPI calculations and benchmarking 

• Progress saving and return functionality 

• Personalised recommendations and next steps 

• Historical tracking of benchmark results over time 

Depending on the number of sections completed, benchmarking can take as little as 10 minutes per section, and users can save their progress and return later if needed.

Helping shape future sector support 

In addition to helping individual organisations improve performance, aggregate benchmarking data will help GDC better understand sector-wide trends and needs. These insights will inform future technical assistance, support programmes and sector initiatives. All individual results remain confidential. Only aggregated, anonymised data is used to identify sector trends and inform future support activities.

Access the tool 

The Benchmarking Tool is available free of charge to all GDC members as part of their membership benefits.  

Compare your business against 70+ distributors in 60+ countries. Find out where you are strong, where you can improve, and what to focus on next.

Start benchmarking your business today

This tool is based on a Hystra study for the Global Distributors Collective and has been funded by UK aid from the UK government via the Transforming Energy Access (TEA) platform.