Indian River Consulting Group's Distributor Pandemic Revenue Index (PRI) — aimed to provide a weekly snapshot of how industrial distributors' sales have fared during the pandemic compared to a year earlier — saw a considerable slowdown in the pace of growth last week following three-straight major growth weeks.
Covering the selling week of Jan. 11-15, the latest PRI showed a reading of +4.6 percent, meaning that for the 14 distributors surveyed, their average sales were up 4.6 percent year-over-year. It followed readings of 18.4, 21.3 and 18.2 the previous three weeks, which IRCG noted may have been somewhat calendar-driven due to impacts of the holidays.
The newest reading more closely resembled the low- to mid-single-digit marks that the PRI maintained from mid-September through mid-December.
Of last week's 14 distributors in the survey, nine reported increases, with a range of 1 percent to 51 percent. For the five distributors that reported declines, their range was from 1 percent to 32 percent.
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 weekly percent change in year-over-year sales:
