An expanded look at the 10 largest distributors from our Electrical Wholesaling Top 150.
Electrical Wholesaling's editors have been ranking the electrical market's
largest distributors since the late 1970s, but we cannot remember a year
with more change. During the past 12 months, the COVID-19 pandemic
challenged distributors, manufacturers and independent reps to develop
new ways to serve electrical contractors and other end users. Prices for copper,
steel, plastic resins and other raw materials saw their biggest spikes in years. And
while mergers and acquisitions reshape our listing of the largest distributors every
year, we don’t normally see a deal the size of WESCO's purchase of Anixter, which
almost doubled the size of the company, with 2020 proforma revenues topping
$16 billion.
This e-book provides some additional insight into the 10 largest electrical distributors
in our 2021 ranking of the 150 largest wholesalers in North America.
These companies have enormous clout in the business, and by our estimates had
combined 2020 revenues of more than $48 billion. That's approximately 44% of
the $110 million in estimated 2020 sales through electrical distributors in the
United States and Canada.
