2025 Q1 for Industrial Supply might have set a record for news impacting the channel that rivals the amount of change and uncertainty that was happening during COVID.
The political winds from Washington, DC are also, to use a term have been…turbulent
- Tariffs on again, delayed, and semi-implemented having been affecting planning and causing uncertainty
- On, then off, then on, then off / delayed, to…news has had an effect, but the overall size of the North America industrial market is substantial and strong.
- Department budget cuts that impact the federal real estate footprint impacts renovations and potentially construction.
- Discussion of Government cuts will impact procurement and potentially construction and industrial investment plans of companies.
And there are more second and third derivative implications, with many unknown … all that create indecision, and businesses don’t like indecision as it makes them delay plans.
How was your Q2? Outlook/thoughts for Q3 in 2025?
With this as a background, our Q2 2025 Pulse of Industrial Supply survey is now open. We need your responses by June 20, 2025 please.
If you can spare 1-2 minutes to complete the confidential survey, we’ll share a copy of the results with you shortly thereafter.
*Channel Marketing Group and Industrial Supply Trends produces this confidential survey in partnership with William Blair | Homepage
2025 Q1 Pulse of Industrial Supply
Our initial survey, conducted during the last week of March was in the words of one distributor who responded and received the report, “gloomy.”
Key feedback included:
- Distributors, on average, were down 1.49% in Q1 2025and manufacturers reported up .6%. Essentially a flat market.
- Only 14% of distributors reported being up more than 5% whereas 40% of manufacturers reported +/- 2%.
- Looking towards Q2, the market was looking for nominal growth. Distributors were projecting 1.4% and manufacturers projected 1.85% ….this will be interesting to see how our actual Q2 results compare to the prediction in Q1. CMGTrends has been doing this survey in the Electrical/Lighting Channel for many years, and it has been very accurate.
- Some manufacturers expressed a desire for tariffs to be “margin neutral, and also commented that labor (finding it) is a challenge.
A caveat, however, regarding the Q2 projections, is that the forecast was predicated without knowing what the tariffs would be. Obviously, there has been much change. We do know, however, that companies will need industrial supplies.
So, we viewed Q1 Pulse of Industrial Supply as more of an “organic” projection.
- Some additional insights gleaned from respondents in the Q1 Report included:
- 57% of distributor respondents shared that they had increased their inventory, perhaps in anticipation of tariffs, perhaps higher inventory due to slower Q1 sales results.
To request a copy of the Full Q1 Pulse of Industrial report (or ask questions or provide input on our Q2 Pulse of Industrial Report, please feel free to reach to me directly.
As always, we appreciate the feedback and comments. So, feel free to reach out at jgunderson@channelmkt.com
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