Purchasing Study
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A jan/san distributor’s job is not easy. Just to survive, they must achieve strong sales and maintain a good relationship with customers. To thrive, though? That requires much more skill and hard work. The best jan/san distributors are closely dialed into the commercial cleaning industry. Not only do they know what the customer needs, but they know why these needs exist. Successful jan/san distributors realize that each customer is its own delicate ecosystem, highly dependent on many things going right. In some ways, a jan/san distributor must know their customer needs better than the customer knows itself.  

Sanitary Maintenance—aware that jan/san distributors have a thorough understanding of how in-house facility managers and building services contractors function—polled these end user professionals on a variety of topics for the "2025 End User Purchasing Survey." The resulting findings can help distributors concentrate more on sales opportunities and less on pitches their customers don’t want to hear. 

This year’s survey revealed that there is untapped potential for online sales revenue. For starters, 58 percent of respondents say they would purchase more products online from distributors if they had greater e-commerce capabilities. This represents a shift from the most recent survey—administered in 2023—where just under half of respondents said they would buy more had their distributors improved their e-commerce game.  

Even more conclusive was the end user's response when asked if they would buy non-cleaning products from their distributor if they were offered. Over three-quarters of those surveyed say “yes,” suggesting that it's time for distributors to bulk up their offerings on popular items such as breakroom necessities, coffee and creamer, batteries, and other office supplies. 

End users were also asked about the percentage of their cleaning products they buy online, but not from a traditional distributor—think e-tailers such as Amazon Business. Almost a third of respondents say they buy less than 5 percent of cleaning products online from a non-jan/san distributor, making it the most popular option. However, 14.5 percent say they buy between 11 and 25 percent of cleaning products through an online e-tailer, and another 11 percent say they buy 26 to 50 percent of their products through these sources.  

Results like this further demonstrate that there is an existing and prospering market for selling cleaning products online. Distributors that have been hesitant to make the switch may want to reconsider their position. 

For instance, if the previous support of online tools wasn't enough, the survey also asked respondents what percentage of the products they purchased from a traditional distributor were done using e-commerce. A combined 42 percent of end users say they purchase at least 51 percent of their products via their distributor’s website.  

Distributors who have been slow to adopt e-commerce on their websites won't be left out to dry. Nearly a third of the survey respondents say less than 10 percent of the products they purchase from their distributor are purchased online. So, while technology continues to be a significant component of modern business, there is still a market for selling to customers who prefer more traditional methods. 

These distributors aren’t the only businesses slow to adopt technology. End users surveyed are slow to embrace technology, even if it promotes efficiencies.  

Over the next 12 months, just 20 percent of respondents say they plan to splurge on robotic floor care equipment. This is a slow growth—but growth, nonetheless—from the 13 percent who responded “yes” to the question in 2023. Much of the hesitation stems from pricing and rapid changes in the technology. It remains to be seen whether purchases will increase as equipment features evolve and prices level out to become more palatable for budgets. 

That said, end users are much more interested in products and technology that leverage Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities. Just over half of respondents say they plan to buy products that leverage the technology in the next 12 months, up slightly from the 2023 survey where 48.5 percent of respondents added IoT to their shopping carts. 

While the survey had specific questions related to IoT and robotic floor equipment purchases, it also presented a list of almost three dozen product categories that end users were considering buying in the next 12 months. In comparing the results of the 2023 survey to those of this year’s survey, there are a few notable differences.  

Nearly half of the end users surveyed in 2023 said they planned to buy a new cleaning cart, compared to just over a quarter of respondents in 2025. Also, foodservice disposables were far more in demand in 2023 than they are now.  

Surprisingly, interest in buying electrostatic equipment doubled over the last two years, but that isn’t saying much. Just 7 percent of the people surveyed this year say they might invest in technology.  

Most notably, interest in floor care chemicals more than doubled over the last two years. Sixty-four percent of end users say they plan to buy these products, compared to just 27 percent in 2023. 

When end users do decide to begin shopping around for different products, they clearly value some factors more than others. Just as in 2023, ease-of-use is the most valuable component in a product or piece of equipment. The next most important factors were, in order, productivity/increased time or labor savings, ease of training others to use, product durability, and manufacturer dependability/reputation.  

Interestingly, a low price—always expected to be a driving factor in purchasing—ranked very low among survey respondents. End users chose this as the second least important factor when choosing products and equipment for purchase. 

Despite how end users responded to the last question, another suggests they do care about the bottom line. An overwhelming 83 percent of participants claim they would switch distributors for a better product price. The good news is, many end users consider value-added services as part of a purchase, so distributors who excel in this area might still compete with bargain shops.  

While current events can feel prevalent in much of the public’s daily life, they do not have much impact on end users purchasing habits. When asked about how current events will influence their purchasing decisions, 48 percent of end users say they will purchase at a normal frequency but will be open to different brands to satisfy their needs. A third of respondents say they will buy as normal. Just 5 percent of respondents say they are postponing purchases. 

Overall, end users do have an appetite to buy even more from their distributors, but this might require distributors to make some big changes. Whether or not they desire to take on the challenge is up to them. 

Please sign in to access the PDF results of this free study.

Jake Meister is the Managing Editor of Sanitary Maintenance magazine.




POSTED ON: 12/17/2025