On Jan. 31, independent distributor organization AD said member sales in 2022 were $74.9 billion, a 28% increase over the prior year.

Purchases by member companies from AD supplier partners totaled $20.3 billion last year, AD said. Net distributions to owner/members reached $1.4 billion.

 “The independent distributor community, in every AD Division, continued to achieve remarkable growth and expansion,” AD Chairman and CEO Bill Weisberg said. “In aggregate, we are now 63% over our pre-pandemic volume. We are extremely grateful for the support we’ve received from the AD supplier community and all the truly incredible people who work in our companies.”

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During 2022, AD’s membership grew to 866 separately owned independents across 14 divisions and three countries. Not included in that count separately were the 84 acquisitions made by existing AD members in 2022 of other independents, AD said.

Member losses due to consolidation negatively impacted AD’s volume by -0.4%. Member additions via acquisitions by AD members, mergers with other groups and individual decisions positively impacted the association’s volume by +3%, AD said.

Same-store sales of U.S. members were up 21%, Canada same-store member sales increased by 8%, and Mexico same-store sales increased by 19%, according to AD.