Top 200 Distributors Look for Flat Sales in 2010 After Double-Digit Decline in 2009

The electrical distributors that made this year’s Top 200 ranking, to be published later this month in Electrical Wholesaling, were not immune to the sales declines experienced by the electrical industry as a whole. The average sales decline for the 140 companies that provided sales data for both 2008 and 2009 came out to a whopping 21 percent. For the group as a whole, sales dropped 11 percent to $47.5 billion from $53.5 billion. However, Top 200 distributors picked up four points of market share in 2009 and now control 63 percent of the $75.2 billion in 2009 sales that EW estimates was sold through distributors of electrical supplies. Sales per employee for Top 200 distributors was $633,596.

Despite the sales decline, many Top 200 distributors moved aggressively in 2009, investing in new branches, ERP systems, energy solutions divisions and employee training.