Indian River Consulting Group’s (IRCG) distributor Pandemic Revenue Index (PRI) showed a slight deterioration during the week of April 20-24 compared to the week prior. The PRI showed a year-over-year sales decline of 14.8 percent for last week, compared to 13.3 percent for the week of April 13-17 and a whopping 30.5 percent drop for the week of April 6-10.
Last week's PRI sample size was 10 distributors, up one from a week prior. IRCG noted that adding the new participant's historical data into the index caused some minor changes to previous weeks' values.
Of the 10 firms participating in last week's survey, seven saw year-over-year sales declines, with the largest decline at 52.4 percent. Two companies saw increases and one was essentially flat.
"So far, all but one participant has realized an aggregate sales decline over the past five weeks with an average decline of 22.4 percent," said Mike Emerson, IRCG partner. "A big project order that shipped last week is responsible for the sales growth of the one company not showing an overall decline."
IRCG expects the PRI sample size will continue to increase weekly, and is encouraging so. If you are interested having your distribution firm participate, reach out to Emerson at [email protected].
The PRI was launched in late March to provide the B2B distribution space with a snapshot of how distributor revenues are doing amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The chart below shows the percent change in sales in 2020 compared with the same week in 2019, helping to reveal how revenue declines may have driven by uncontrollable forces, such as the current COVID-19 global disruption.
