“The 33 percent growth for the month is a new record,” said Brian Loftus, market research and benchmarking analyst, HARDI. “The gain in March was helped by an easy comparison and an extra billing day, but the gain would have been in the 27% area with the same number of billing days. Sales growth has been 20% or more for three of the past four months.”

The Days Sales Outstanding (DSO), a measure of how quickly customers pay their bills, remains at 43 days.

“The DSO has been faster than normal since June 2020 and that persists,” said Loftus. “This time of year it is normally in the range of 47-49 days, and should probably be more than 55 now given the record strong demand. We believe the 43 DSO indicates some customers are using their elevated cash reserves for planned replacement instead of waiting for an equipment failure.”

There are other factors supporting the recent strong sales growth at HARDI distributors. “Monthly job gains have been doubling from 233,000 in January to 468,000 in February and then 916,000 in March,” said Loftus. “The job gains and successful vaccine rollout has allowed consumer confidence to snap back. That enthusiasm is being reflected in strong demand at many segments of the economy. The vaccine recovery is here.”

HARDI members do not receive financial compensation in exchange for their monthly sales data and can discontinue their participation without prior notice or penalty. Participation is voluntary, and the depth of market coverage varies from region to region. An independent entity collects and compiles the data that can include products not directly associated with the HVACR industry. For more information, visit www.hardinet.org.