SUMMARY OF REPORT CONTENTS

                   The UK Industrial Products Distribution Market

                        (£m) at Distributors Proces 2006-2015

AMA Research has published a new report covering the general industrial products distribution market. The report provides a comprehensive analysis of the structure of the market and provides details of the key players within the market. The main product sectors are analysed including the product market sizes, trends and the distributors’ share of product distribution. The report also provides forecasts of market prospects to 2015.

Product sectors included: abrasives, janitorial products, fasteners, fluid & air control, health & safety, power tools, hand tools, engineering & metalworking, workshop & maintenance, packaging & stationery and storage, security, access, site equipment & handling products.

The general industrial products distribution market is a mature and highly fragmented market with an estimated market size of £1.44 billion in 2010 within the report definition. Distributor involvement varies significantly, with some distributors operating in all product sectors defined in the report, whilst others focus on a more limited number of product sectors. Some distributors, such as Brammer, Cromwell Tools, Monks & Crane, Buck & Hickman, Eriks Industrial Services and Arco, are focused on industrial products supply, whilst others, such as RS components and Screwfix, supply these products as well as a wide range of other products excluded from this report, although they are still key players within the industrial products distribution market.

The main competitors to the industrial distributors are the direct and specialist channels. The industrial distributors’ involvement in product distribution varies dependent on the type of product.

For instance engineering & metal working products are primarily via the industrial distributors, whilst they have a more limited involvement in products such as janitorial products.

The health of the General Industrial Products Distribution market is directly related to the state of the UK economy and the performance of the manufacturing and engineering sectors, with levels of maintenance and repair operations of particular significance (the latter taking on even more importance during the recession).

The market experienced steady growth to 2007, before being impacted by the economic downturn in 2008. The market continued to decline in 2009, falling to an estimated market size of £1.5 billion. Sectors helping to underpin the market were workshop & maintenance, fluid & air control and health & safety. In comparison sectors such as tooling and engineering & metal working saw a more significant fall in demand.

As the fortunes of some of the market’s end-users improve, the general industrial products distribution market showed signs of recovery. It is estimated that the market was worth approximately £1.4 billion at the end of in 2010, with future prospects looking more positive. The market is expected to experience moderate levels of growth to 2015, reaching an estimated size of £1.68 billion, a figure below its peak in 2007.