Calling on strengths like adaptability, innovation, independence and leadership, the AD community is seeing signs of stabilization and recovery as it reports 2020 nine-month results.

On a year-to-date basis, group purchases from AD suppliers were down slightly, by 2%. Net rebate distributions to members were at the same level as 2019. September’s member purchases from AD supplier partners saw a 1% increase from the same time last year, the first increase since April.

On a same-store basis, member sales across all AD’s divisions and countries were down 6% through the first nine months of this year, to $33 billion. By business unit, nine-month Plumbing, Heating, Cooling and Piping same store sales were down 2%; Electrical sales were down 7%; Building Materials sales were down 6%; and Industrial and Safety sales were down 9%.  

AD’s CEO Bill Weisberg said, “Our community has always been passionate about growth, and while we’re powering through and surviving the toughest times we’ve faced in a long time, we are making a collective commitment to getting back to what we do best: growing, leading and innovating. I’m immensely optimistic about our ability to rebound from these challenges and come back stronger than ever.”