What does it mean when companies keep getting acquired in an industry?

Hi everyone, I'm new to WSO here. I hope I'm posting in the right place. If not, please direct me to the right forum.

I was wondering if someone can help me with a general question about mergers & acquisitions and industry structure/strategy. I'd like to get some opinions from a finance/investment point of view... I've been skimming through the industry headlines for industrial distribution in the US, mostly just looking through their daily newsletter headlines (inddist [dot]com). Seems like everyday, distributors have been getting acquired. American industrial manufacturers have not been able to compete with prices due to the lower cost of producing and buying from Asian manufacturers. It has been like this for decades but now that labor cost in Asia is starting to go up, some producers are reconsidering producing or buying from within the US. The alarming trend is that American distributors have been buying each other out for the past few years.

What do these acquisitions mean for the industry structure in general and its future direction? And how do these acquisitions affect importers/exporters and small distributors here? Any insight will be appreciated. Thanks.