You’ve waited for it. You’ve asked for it. And now, it’s finally here.

I’m happy to announce that MDM’s 2022 Top Distributors feature is now live and available to view and download. Please read on for important background information and details, but since I don’t want to keep you waiting, you can access our PDF of the feature and our complete Top Distributors directory here at mdm.com/top_distributors/. It’ll ask you to register with some basic information, and once you’ve done so, you’ll have access to everything this feature has to offer.

For those unfamiliar with the feature, MDM’s Top Distributors is our annual listing and ranking of North America’s largest distributors across industrial, construction and commercial products sectors, based on their 2021 revenues. This year’s feature breaks out listings across 17 different product verticals, showing the top distributors in each based on their revenue within those respective categories. That latter point is vital. While the revenue shown is distributors’ 2021 total company revenue, their position on ranked categories is based on their revenue in that specific market. It’s why you’ll see a number of companies ranked above others despite having lower total company revenue. 

Those 17 verticals range from industrial and MRO supplies, electrical and plumbing, to building materials, HVAC, safety and more. Four of the categories are displayed unranked.

The Top Distributors PDF explains our methodology and revenue verification at length. But to keep it short here, we rely on earnings reports from publicly-traded companies. For non-publicly-traded companies, we rely on self-reported information via a survey, website information and email and phone communication with those distributors to confirm revenue. We allow non-publicly-traded distributors to keep their revenue information private if they elect to do so — and there were plenty that did. However, the vast majority of them agreed to provide that figure privately to MDM. For those that didn’t, we relied on the latest available verified information and trusted industry sources to help triangulate an estimate.

All-in-all, it resulted in what I think is MDM’s most accurate and useful Top Distributors List ever, now in its 13th year.

I hope you find MDM’s 2022 Top Distributors to be a great resource. I hope you use the PDF as an easy-reference document for these industry verticals that we cover. I’d recommend printing it and pinning it where it’s easy to see at all times. It’s what I’ve done.

I’m happy to get any feedback — both positive and negative — you may have about the feature at [email protected]. I’m already looking forward to this labor of love again in 2023!