September 2003              return to newsletter contents page

AVDA Distributors Outlook Survey 

for Second Quarter 2003

AVDA’s Distributor Members were recently surveyed for the second quarter ending June 30, 2003 on their outlook for the veterinary distribution industry. Thirty-three 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 second quarter of 2003, 67% of the respondents stated profit margins were staying the same and 33% of respondents said that they were falling. Seventy-eight percent of respondents predicted normal or above normal growth as the planning scenario for their company’s business plan over the next twelve months.

Eighty-nine percent of respondents stated that the unit volume of demand for their company’s products has been rising and 11% stated the unit volume of demand had been staying about the same.

On the Employment front, compared with the same quarter last year, 56% of distributors stated that their company’s employment had been rising. Forty-four percent said that their employment was staying about the same. Compared with the previous quarter, 56% said employment was rising and 44% said that employment had remained the same. Wages and salaries over the past three months were rising for 56% of the distributor respondents and 44% 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 if you have other suggestions for the survey. Your thoughts and comments are appreciated.