NetPlus Alliance distributor members remain optimistic about 2023 revenue, despite talent challenges and lingering inventory obstacles, according to the latest NetPlus Alliance Industry Outlook, a quarterly report based on a survey of NetPlus members.
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NetPlus Alliance is an industrial and contractor supplies buying group.
The NetPlus Alliance Industry Outlook tracks business results and trends in the industrial and contractor supply markets. The latest quarterly survey was completed in April 2023, and the outlook was based on the first-quarter results for 2023.
Nearly 58% of NetPlus Alliance distributor members saw significant sales growth in the first quarter of 2023 (+8% or more) over those in the first quarter of last year. Another 21% reported moderate growth. Waning supply chain challenges were reported as a main contributor to growth. Other reasons included overall increased demand and new project starts.
Eighty-eight percent of NetPlus distributors in the survey think their business will grow by more than 3% this year. Their optimism is fueled by:
- Improved supply chain activity
- Increased confidence in plant updates
- Branch expansion
- New business growth
- Greater focus on sales and marketing
- Product availability
- New product lines
- Addition of salespeople
“Forecasting the rest of 2023 is a challenge thanks to recession talks, and elements of the economy and politics causing some concern,” said Dan Judge, founder of NetPlus Alliance. “But our members are forward-looking and focused on continuous improvement in their companies. They are optimistic for the remainder of the year. I think our members are growing their business because they are proactively taking significant steps to do so.”
