March 2005                        return to newsletter contents page

AVDA Distributors Outlook Survey Upbeat for Fourth Quarter of 2004

AVDA’s Distributor Members were recently surveyed for the fourth quarter ending December 31, 2004 on their outlook for the veterinary distribution industry. Thirty percent of distributor members responded to the survey.

In response to a question regarding whether profit margins were rising, staying the same or falling in the fourth quarter of 2004, all of the respondents stated profit margins were rising or staying the same. Eighty-six percent of respondents predicted normal or above normal growth as the planning scenario for their company's business plan over the next 12 months Fourteen percent predicted sluggish growth in the upcoming year.

Seventy-one percent of respondents stated that the unit volume of demand for their company’s products has been rising and 29% stated the unit volume of demand had been staying about the same compared to the same quarter last year. Compared to the previous quarter in 2004, 71% said that unit volume demand for their products was rising.

On the Employment front, compared with the same quarter last year, 43% of distributors stated that their company’s employment had been rising. Fifty-seven percent said that their employment was staying about the same. Wages and salaries over the last quarter were rising for 43% of the distributor respondents and 57% stated that they had remained the same.

This survey was conducted electronically. Future surveys will be conducted in the same fashion and will include additional questions of interest to our members. Please contact Jackie King at AVDA Headquarters at Jackie@ksgroup.org if you have other suggestions for the survey. Your thoughts and comments are appreciated.