AD Members Post 9% Growth Overall but Electrical Lags

Wholesale buying/marketing group Affiliated Distributors (AD), Wayne, PA, reported sales for all AD distributor members, across all seven of the group’s divisions and three countries, grew by 9% in 2016 but electrical distributor members appear to be stuck in a slow lane.

The results varied considerably by industry, with Electrical up 1%. By comparison Plumbing, PVF & HVAC (PHCP) distributor sales were up 3%; Industrial was down 4%; Bearings & Power Transmission was flat, and Building Materials was up 16%. On a same-store basis, AD members grew 3%. By country, AD member U.S. same-store sales were up 2%; AD Canada was up 5% and AD Mexico grew 25%. The data includes ongoing members, new members and losses due to consolidation, AD said in a release.

“Despite headwinds in industrial and energy markets and price deflation within certain large product categories, member purchases from AD suppliers grew by 9% and net distributions to AD members grew by 15%,” said AD Chairman and CEO Bill Weisberg. “We also had huge advancements in e-commerce, HR and procurement services.  For instance, we created over one million enhanced, normalized and attributed SKUs and are playing a support role to help our members refine their digital strategy and launch their webstores. Our role is to help our members compete and win, now and in the future.”