Fastenal shared its February sales report on Feb. 6, showing a modest monthly improvement in daily sales that appears to still be subdued amidst an industry-wide demand slowdown for industrial supplies.

The Winona, MN-based distributor reported February total sales of $627.1 million that were up 7.7% year-over-year, helped by one additional business day vs. a year earlier. On a daily sales basis, sales were up 2.6%, which improved from January’s 1.6% growth.

Find Fastenal’s detailed February sales performance breakdown below:

Daily sales growth by geography:

• U.S. (83.7% of total) grew 2.4% year-over-year (+4.8% in Jan.)
• Canada/Mexico (13.3% of total) grew 4.8% YoY (+9.4% in Jan.)
• Rest of World (3.0% of total) dipped 0.6% YoY (+12.9% in Jan.)

Daily sales growth by end market: 

• Heavy manufacturing (43.6% of total) grew 3.1% YoY (+3.3% in Jan.)
• Other manufacturing (31.6% of total) grew 3.6% YoY (+0.7% in Jan.)
• Non-residential construction (8.7% of total) fell 3.4% YoY (-8.6% in Jan.)
• Reseller (5.7% of total) fell 3.1% YoY (-6.9% in Jan.)
• Other (10.4%) of total grew 7.3% YoY (+10.7% in Jan.)

Daily sales growth by product line: 

• Fasteners (31.6% of total) fell 3.5% YoY (-6.0% in Jan.)
• Safety (21.3% of total) grew 8.3% YoY (+9.7% in Jan.)
• Other (47.1% of total) grew 4.8% YoY (+3.3% in Jan.)

Growth metrics by customer/channel type: 

• 63.0% of Top 100 national accounts grew in February YoY (60.0% in Jan.)
• 51.6% of in-market locations grew in February YoY (49.1% in Jan.)
• National account daily sales grew 7.0% in February YoY (+6.0% in Jan.)
• Non-national account daily sales fell 3.0% in February YoY (-6% in Jan.)
• Fastenal Managed Inventory (FMI) sales grew 10.0% in February YoY (+8.0% in Jan.)
• eProcurement sales grew 31.0% in February YoY (+23.0% in Jan.)

Headcount

• Fastenal ended February with a total headcount of 23,602, up 0.9% from January and up 3.9% YoY. Its full-time sales personnel headcount ended February at 15,134, up 1.1% from January and up 3.2% YoY.

On MDM’s 2023 Top Distributors Lists, Fastenal was No. 6 for Industrial, No. 4 for MRO, No. 7 for Fluid Power and No. 1 for Fasteners. The company posted 2023 total sales of $7.35 billion, up 5.2% vs. 2022.