It’s finally here: the “Report on 2004 Sanitary Supply Distributor Sales,” a study conducted every other year by Sanitary Maintenance magazine, in conjunction with ISSA.

This year’s study reveals some significant findings:
• Distributor sales in 2004 increased 9.4 percent over 2002, and now top $23 billion.
• In 2004, the Educational segment overtook Industrial — the leader in 2002 — as the market accounting for the most distributor sales; 14 percent of distributor sales are attributed to the Educational market. Contract cleaners are again second, while Industrial fell to third.
• Paper/plastics again is the product category that generates the greatest sales-dollar volume for distributors.
• The average number of outside salespeople employed by distributors took a hefty jump since 2002 — from five to 10.
• Average gross margins for the main product categories took a hit since the 2002 report. Gross margins decreased by the following amounts: Chemicals, 4.9 percent; Supplies/Accessories, 2.5 percent; Paper/Plastics, 4.8 percent; Power Equipment, 3 percent.

This study was designed, prepared and conducted by the Research Department of Trade Press Publishing Corp., publisher of Sanitary Maintenance magazine, in conjunction with ISSA. Its primary purpose was to gather information on distributor sales of chemicals, janitorial supplies, paper/plastic products and power equipment. Data shown in this report was derived from non-duplicated questionnaires returned from a random sample of Sanitary Maintenance readers and ISSA members. Projected market totals were computed using weighted means. Dollar figures presented represent sales by distributors after markup. Estimates for manufacturer sales based on these figures are difficult to make since markup varies from category to category and from one distributor to another.
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POSTED ON: 10/1/2005