Kansas, which has been called the Wheat State and the Breadbasket of the Nation, leads all other states in production of wheat. However, wheat dominates neither the landscape nor the economy of Kansas. The sale of livestock, especially beef cattle, provides a larger percentage of annual farm income than the sale of wheat. Moreover, manufacturing and service industries are far more valuable to the state’s economy than agriculture.

The production of transportation equipment, primarily aircraft and aircraft parts, is the leading manufacturing activity in Kansas.

Kansas has a population of 2.92 million residents and this is relatively a convenient population for retail trade and retail distribution. Retail distribution in Kansas may be quite promising as thousands of stores would be selling to consumers. Thus, there is a market for distribution.

Just like every other American state, there are essentials that are needed daily by Americans. Food, shelter, toiletries, clothes, electronic gadgets, transportation, and a whole lot of essentials are needed by the average human being for existence in the 21^stcentury world.

The retail trade is one that connects directly to the consumers. It is the trade that lays emphasis on how to get the consumer to get the product from a particular retailer and to establish a relationship with that retailer. However, a retailer, most times, does not get the goods directly from the manufacturers or get the goods produced herself. There is the existence of the retail distributor in the supply chain.

Retail distributors are essential links in the supply chain. When manufacturers produce their products, they need distribution for the product. There are several situations where the manufacturer does the distribution to retailers. This is direct store delivery. However, not all manufacturers have the capacity to do their own distribution to retail outlets. For instance, a new brand still seeking market recognition does not have a name in the market and will need to be significantly promoted and pushed. A retail distributor can do the better job of getting the product to several hundreds or even thousands of stores.

With about 20% of the working population in state of Kansas into retail and wholesale trade, there is an impressive amount working in the supply chain. However, there is more to the supply chain than the number involved. There are general goods everyone is interested in but there are specialized products like adult goods, sport goods, smoking goods, and some others.

There are retail groups that foster networking and good business relationships between the players in the retail chain. One of them in Kansas is the Associated Grocery Sellers which brings together players in the grocery retail chain.

Wheatbelt, Inc is a retail distributor that distributes food products to stores and foodservice centers. It also does drop shipping for those who have to make delivery in foreign places.

There are several other retail distributors who deal in several other aspects of products. They may be quite many but they have quite a satisfactory distribution network.