On June 22, Lockport, New York-based NetPlus Alliance announced that its distributor members “remained optimistic about 2023 revenue, despite talent challenges and lingering inventory obstacles,” according to the latest NetPlus Alliance Industry Outlook, a quarterly report based on a survey of NetPlus members.

The NetPlus Alliance Industry Outlook tracks business results and trends in the industrial and contractor supply markets. The latest quarterly survey was completed in April 2023, and the outlook was based on the 1Q results for 2023, NetPlus said in a news release.

Approximately 58% of NetPlus Alliance distributor members saw significant sales growth in the first quarter of 2023 — roughly 8% or more — over those in the first quarter of 2022. Another 21% reported moderate growth, according to NetPlus.

“Waning supply chain challenges were reported as a main contributor to growth,” the company said. “Other reasons included overall increased demand and new project starts.”

About 88% percent of NetPlus distributors in the survey think their business “will grow by more than 3% this year.”

“Forecasting the rest of 2023 is a challenge thanks to recession talks, and elements of the economy and politics causing some concern,” said Dan Judge, Founder of NetPlus Alliance. “But our members are forward-looking and focused on continuous improvement in their companies. They are optimistic for the remainder of the year. I think our members are growing their business because they are proactively taking significant steps to do so.”