Indian River Consulting Group's weekly Distributor Pandemic Revenue Index (PRI) — aimed to provide a snapshot of how industrial distributors' sales have fared year-over-year amid the pandemic — had been in a relatively stable holding pattern over the last three months, but the newest reading bucked that trend for the positive.
The new PRI — covering the selling week of Nov. 30-Dec. 4 — showed a mark of +12.1 percent. It means that for that week, year-over-year sales for the 13 distributors surveyed were up an average 12.1 percent. It was the largest growth figure for a non-holiday week since the PRI began. It followed readings of +4.3, +3.6, -2.2, +8.6, -0.4 and +6.8 in the previous five weeks.
IRCG said that of the 13 distributors surveyed, 10 of them reported increases, with half of them well above 20 percent. Of the three reporting year-over-year declines, only one was in double-digits.
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:
