Fastenal's Daily Sales Resume Strong Growth in July

It was a solid rebound after daily sales had marginal June growth and declined in May.

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Fastenal reported its July sales results on Thursday, showing a strong daily sales growth month for the distributor after an underwhelming June and May.

The Winona, MN-based company posted total July sales of $492 million, up 4.7 percent year-over-year and down 7.8 percent from June. Fastenal's July daily sales were up 9.7 percent — a healthy acceleration from June's 1.7 percent growth and a 3.2 percent decline in May.

Geographically, Fastenal's July US sales increased 8.2 percent year-over-year (-1.3 percent in June); increased 20.5 percent in Canada/Mexico (+23.1 percent in June); and increased 11.5 percent to the rest of international (+14.1 percent in June).

Read More: Fastenal, Grainger Address Challenges in Labor, Transportation Costs (published Aug. 4)

By end market, Fastenal's July sales increased 22.5 percent year-over-year to manufacturing customers (+24.3 percent in June) and increased 9.5 percent to non-residential construction customers (+2.5 percent in June).

By product line, Fastenal's July fastener sales grew 22.3 percent year-over-year (+24.4 percent in June), while safety sales — which surged as high as 136 percent in May 2020 and have regulated since — were down 5.4 percent (-30.3 percent in June).

Other notes from Fastenal's July sales report:

  • National accounts daily sales growth was 15.0 percent year-over-year, identical to June
  • Non-national accounts daily sales growth was 3.0 percent year-over-year, compared to an 11.0 percent June decline
  • 72.0 percent of Fastenal's top 100 national accounts grew sales in July, up from 71.0 percent in June
  • 67.0 percent of Fastenal's public branches were growing sales in July, up from 68.8 percent in June
  • Fastenal ended July with a total headcount of 20,320, essentially identical to June and down 0.4 percent year-over-year
    • Total full-time selling headcount of 13,387 was down 1.6 percent YoY, with in-market locations headcount (11,338) up 0.3 percent and non-in-market headcount (2,049) up 9.5 percent
    • Distribution/transportation full-time headcount of 2,686 was up 3.9 percent YoY
    • Manufacturing full-time headcount of 629 was down 0.5 percent YoY
    • Administrative full-time headcount of 1,528 was up 10.2 percent YoY
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