Electronics distribution industry performance in 2001

¶ … electronics distribution industry and the performance of firms in the industry in 2001. An overall summary is best captured in the opening line of the article, "It was a disastrous year for electronics distribution in 2001."

The article then provides the detail of the performance of the firms, comparing them to the previous years performance. These details include that most firms had double digit declines in sales for 2001, compared to double digit growth the year before; that 65 of the top 75 distributors experienced a decline in sales, compared to ten in the previous year; that only ten reported sales above flat, compared to 65 in 2000, with the majority of these 65 experiencing double digit growth; that revenue of the top 75 fell 24% from the previous year; and that the average rate of decline for the top 25 was 16.8% compared to a 27.7% growth in the previous year. All these statistics indicate the major difference between the performance of 2000 and 2001.

The decline in the industry is attributed to two factors. Firstly, it is said that unrealistic demand forecasts had distributors with too much inventory. Secondly, the demise of the dot.coms is said to be a factor.

The article then moves on and discusses acquisitions, describing how acquisitions also slowed in 2001. It describes just one major acquisition, Avnet's purchase of IP&E and three minor acquisitions.

The article then moves on and discusses the top ten rankings for 2001, with Avnet at number one, followed by Arrow, Future, Bell Microproducts, Memec, TTI, Newark, All American Semiconductor and Reptron Electronics.