DISC Corp. nails 2009 economic forecast for electrical market

Many industry observers were shocked when they saw so many publicly held electrical distributors and electrical manufacturers report 20 percent declines in sales in the recent bevy of second-quarter 2009 financial reports. Not Herm Isenstein, president of DISC Corp., Orange, Conn., the leading provider of sales forecast data in the electrical market. Back in January he forecast a 27-percent decline in total 2009 industry sales and a 34-percent decline in the contractor segment. Herm is not one to brag, but he also nailed the rate of decline in industry sales during the last economic downturn in 2001-2003.

According to his firm’s data, 2009 will go down in history as having the worst decline in electrical sales in the past 35 years. Isenstein says the only time a decline in total sales for the electrical market even hit 10 percent was way back in 1975. DISC’s economic news is not all depressing — the firm’s current forecasts say electrical distributors, reps and manufacturers will see improving economic conditions in 2010 and double-digit sales increases in 2011-2013.