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Home » Gross Margins Ratios Stay Flat

Gross Margins Ratios Stay Flat

Ten-year trend shows most distributors maintain, even gain

By    Thomas P.  Gale 
April 10, 2004
More about:  Management/Strategy,  Sales & Marketing
The lament about increasingly lower gross margins is often heard over cocktails, but don't look to government data to support your case. Gross margins to sales ratio stayed flat or even increased from 1993-2003 across most wholesale sectors, according to the Annual Benchmark Report for Wholesale Trade released last month by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Exceptions: Electrical goods dropped from 24.01% in 1993 to 22.35% in 2002. In nondurable goods, paper & paper products distributors saw gross margins to sales ratios decrease from 25.28% in 1993 to 21.82% in 2002. Many distributors saw a low point in the gross margins to sales ratio in 2001.

Overall, gross margins increased slightly for durable goods wholesalers, from 23.33% in 1993 to 24.15% in 2002. The only year showing a ...

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The lament about increasingly lower gross margins is often heard over cocktails, but don't look to government data to support your case. Gross margins to sales ratio stayed flat or even increased from 1993-2003 across most wholesale sectors, according to the Annual Benchmark Report for Wholesale Trade released last month by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Exceptions: Electrical goods dropped from 24.01% in 1993 to 22.35% in 2002. In nondurable goods, paper & paper products distributors saw gross margins to sales ratios decrease from 25.28% in 1993 to 21.82% in 2002. Many distributors saw a low point in the gross margins to sales ratio in 2001.

Overall, gross margins increased slightly for durable goods wholesalers, from 23.33% in 1993 to 24.15% in 2002. The only year showing a ...







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