Despite consistent gains in other economic indicators in the manufacturing space, Indian River Consulting Group's weekly Distributor Pandemic Revenue Index (PRI) continues to flip between solid gains and modest losses, with the latest reading dropping into the negative.
For the selling week of Nov. 9-13, the PRI showed a decrease of 2.2 percent, meaning that for the 12 distributors surveyed, their average sales were down 2.2 percent year-over-year. It followed one of the PRI's best readings since the pandemic began — +8.6 percent — just one week earlier, and readings of -0.4, +6.8, +2.6 and -0.4 in the four weeks prior.
In the latest index, four distributor respondents reported increases, while the eight decreases ranged from -3 to -31 percent.
"It will be interesting to see how the index may change over the upcoming weeks as new lockdown orders are beginning to be put in place," commented Mike Emerson, IRCG partner.
IRCG aims for the PRI to show a snapshot of how industrial distributors' sales have fared during the pandemic compared to a year earlier.
IRCG would like to increase the sample size for the PRI, so if you would like to include your company, reach out to IRCG partner Mike Emerson at [email protected].
The chart below shows the percent change in sales in 2020 compared with the same week in 2019, unadjusted for additional selling days for the week of July 4 and Labor Day:
