Christian Sokoll of DISC Corporation (“DISC”), a provider of sales forecasts and related market data for the electrical market, says that, during 2020, the overall electrical distribution marketplace was down 9.5% year-over-year compared to 2019.
A report released by the National Association of Electrical Distributors (“NAED”) is a bit more positive, indicating that, during calendar year 2020, the typical electrical distributor recorded a sales decline of 1.5% and a 4.0% profit margin. Further, the NAED highlights the fact that the typical distributor’s return on net worth was 18.8% in 2020, up slightly from the average return of 18.7% in 2019. Notably, NAED says that, during 2020, electrical distributors’ e-commerce sales were at the highest level since the association started tracking that metric. According to Erin Prinster, a researcher and data analyst for NAED, “This makes sense given that [NAED] members needed to keep the industry moving and this is one channel that provided the means to service customers 24/7.”
Also, Electrical Wholesaling (“EW”) estimates that, during 2020, the five largest electrical distributors in North America—WESCO, Sonepar North America, Graybar Electric Company, Consolidated Electrical Distributors and Rexel Holdings USA—recorded an estimated $40.3 billion in combined revenue and operated an estimated 3,205 branches in North America. According to EW’s sales data, these five companies accounted for no less than 36.0% of an estimated $113.0 billion in combined U.S. and Canadian sales.
Download the newsletter to read more.
