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Catalogue distributor projects significant
growth for 2010 Being happy with business is
a rare emotion in these recession-dogged times. But for catalogue
distributor Mouser Electronics's Mark Burr-Lonnon, sitting on 3-5
per cent up on last year is, if not sitting pretty, something of
a bonus when most people are looking at double digit decline –
or worse.
Mark Burr-Lonnon, Vice President Europe and Asia, Mouser Electronics “We've seen it pick up since the second week of April” Burr-Lonnon, visiting UK from his base in Mansfield, Texas, told Edi. “Since September it's gone crazy, and that's been borne out by discussions I've been having with suppliers.” Does this signal a market recovery? Probably not, he thinks . “A lot of this is being driven by the problems with semiconductor allocations. There is restocking going on, inventory being put back into the channel. Talking to manufacturers now, they're seeing some of the biggest orders they've ever seen from the big distributors.” All well and good, but as Burr-Lonnon points out, putting it into the channel is one thing, getting it out the other end may be another. “We don't see a huge strength in the market, certainly not at the level of business today. To me the trend is a high right-sided W. It will go down before it goes up again. Probably not right down to where it has been.” Mouser's own predictions for next year are bullish at 15-20% increase, on a background of overall market growth of 5-8%. “We'd be very surprised if we didn't hit that”. What is it that is giving this Texas-based catalogue distributor the ability to beat the market trend? Globalisation is a major factor. International business doubled in 2008, and as of last month stands at 30% of the company's total turnover. For Mouser, as for many US companies, international means outside the USA, and as Vice President Europe and Asia, Portsmouth-born Burr-Lonnon looks after all of it. Europe has been a particular focus for Mouser in 2009, opening a UK office earlier this year. European sales have grown in every quarter of 2009, and were 39% up in Q3 compared with Q3 of last year. The company claims that 80 new customers are being added every day in Europe, providing a 74% increase in new customers over the year.
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