“Sales growth during September was helped by an extra billing day and challenged by difficult comparisons and heavy rains in the Southwest and Southeast,” said HARDI Market Research & Benchmarking Analyst Brian Loftus. “HARDI members see the supply chain challenges this summer in the elevated sales-to-inventory ratio per region. This insight each month is another benefit for participants.”

The Days Sales Outstanding (DSO), a measure of how quickly customers pay their bills, is now at 41 days.

“DSO ticked-up from 40 last month,” said Loftus. “The normal level for September is closer to 45 days so this was another unusually brisk report. Customers who participated in the economic relief programs are paying their bills quicker than normal, while the inventory shortages and search for scarce product increased the share of cash transactions.”

“Weather did not help this month,” said Loftus. “Besides the heavy rain in the Southwest and Southeast, cooling degree days during September 2020 were down by 30% to 50% versus September 2019 in five of our seven economic regions,” said Loftus. “Distributor sales growth was helped by the housing market that is getting a boost from the historically low mortgage rates, and consumer confidence that is getting its own boost from the employment recovery.”

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