While the number of distributors in the electrical distribution industry remains over 3,000, revenues are migrating to fewer and fewer companies. The pace of significant acquisitions accelerated during 2006, with a number of Electrical Wholesaling’s “Top 200” distributors being acquired by larger companies.

Allen Ray Associates and Channel Marketing Group teamed for a project that would depict the changing electrical distribution landscape. The revised “Top 154” utilizes data submitted for Electrical Wholesaling’s 2005 “Top 200” and adds reported acquisitions to the acquirers’ revenues. There was no accounting for additional growth that a company may have achieved in 2006 due to marketplace growth, share gain, new branch openings or the benefits of commodity price realization.

The “Top 154” now represents almost $40 billion and more than 55% of the electrical distribution marketplace. Three distributors have more than $4 billion in revenues and two have surpassed $2 billion in revenues.