Data Centers & Inflation Support EW Revision of Industry Sales Estimate to $164 Billion
The impact inflation has had on electrical product pricing, and the revenue boost related to data centers and other megaproject, prompted Electrical Wholesaling’s editors to recalculate the sales-per-employee formula they use to estimate sales potential. EW now estimates $86,653 in sales potential per electrical contractor employee and $2,915 per industrial employee. Business from electrical contractors and industrial MRO or OEM business account for 75% of all sales through electrical distributors. Using these new multipliers, EW's new estimate for total sales through electrical distributors is $163.98 billion.
As you will see in the chart on page 2, this change pumped up the sales potential for key product groups. EW estimates full line electrical distributors sell $36.5 billion in lighting products — 24% of their total sales, followed by wire and cable at 13% for $21.8 billon.
Combined, switchgear and distribution equipment also are at 13% of sales, as are conduit, raceways, conduit fittings and conduit accessories. Industrial controls, on average are at 6%, but they obviously command even more mind share in more industrial markets. Fuses and circuit breakers combine for 6% of mind share in the circuit protection product category. Smaller product groups include utility products at 3%, but utility products account for a much higher percentage in companies with a specialty in this market. At 2% are connectors & accessories, enclosure and outlet boxes and their accessories.
Looking at distributor product mix is always an important reminder of which product areas command the most mind share and inventory investment from electrical distributor executives.
Click on the link below to download Electrical Marketing's Electrical Product Mix estimates at the national and state level
About the Author
Jim LucyJim Lucy
Editor-in-Chief
Over the past 40-plus years, hundreds of Jim’s articles have been published in Electrical Wholesaling and Electrical Marketing newsletter on topics such as the impact of new competitors on the electrical market’s channels of distribution, energy-efficient lighting and renewables, and local market economics. In addition to his published work, Jim regularly gives presentations on these topics to C-suite executives, industry groups and investment analysts.
He launched a new subscription-based data product for Electrical Marketing that offers electrical sales potential estimates and related market data for more than 300 metropolitan areas, and in 1999 he published his first book, “The Electrical Marketer’s Survival Guide” for electrical industry executives looking for an overview of key market trends.
While managing Electrical Wholesaling’s editorial operations, Jim and the publication’s staff won several Jesse H. Neal awards for editorial excellence, the highest honor in the business press, and numerous national and regional awards from the American Society of Business Press Editors. He has a master’s degree in Communications and a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Glassboro State College, Glassboro, N.J. (now Rowan University).