The 2017 NAFCD Quarterly Sales Trends Report, a benchmarking and forecasting
tool based on member data submission, provides NAFCD members with invaluable data and insights. The report delivers NAFCD members with information on near term and regional demand trends, sales forecasts and business management.
“The Quarterly Sales Trends Report provides our members with insight into the industry’s health,” says NAFCD Executive Vice President Kevin Gammonley. “The survey’s participating companies also benefit from the findings because the report aggregates a large amount of data for better comparison and analysis.”
Highlights from the report showed that Q1 2017 sales growth was up for both distributors and manufacturers, 2 percent and 3 percent, respectively.
Distributors performance versus forecast varied considerably, with only 34 percent of distributors surpassing the forecast. The Midwest region saw the strongest growth trends at up 5 percent and online business is now 3 percent of the sales mix, with online penetration expected to increase 4 times over the next five years.
Manufacturers saw demand trends decelerated through the month. The Q2 forecast indicates 4 percent growth and raw materials cost inflation is now forecasted up 2.7 percent.