Strong demand from all industry sectors combined with stabilized pricing in the electronic components industry translated into a very good year for distributors.

Although semiconductor distributors still dominate the electronics distribution industry, according to Purchasing Magazine's annual survey of the Top 75 distributors, passive/electromechanical distributors also posted strong sales in 2000.

Sales of active components among the Top 10 distributors totaled $14.3 billion, up from $11.1 billion in 1999. Computer product sales lost some market share among the Top 10 in 1999, recording only $6.1 billion, down from $6.4 billion in 1999. Passive/electromechanical sales followed at $3.4 billion, up from $3.0 billion in 1999.

Semiconductor specialists saw strong gains in the high double digits. Nu Horizons led the specialists with a growth rate of 85.7% over the previous year, followed by California Eastern Labs, which posted a 78.1% gain. Other semiconductor specialists also experienced good results. Reptron expanded its sales by 60.4% and All American reported a 58.2% gain in sales.

Broadline and other specialized distributors also posted exceptional growth rates. The biggest winners in the Top 20 list include Jaco Electronics, which posted sales growth of 98.4% over the previous year and IP&E specialist TTI, which posted a gain of 90.9%.

Other winners include The DAC Group, which increased its sales by 60.9%; and Avnet, which posted a sales gain of 58.5%. Catalog distributor Digi-Key recorded a 55.6% gain; Questron Technology expanded its sales by 47.7% and Arrow recorded a 31.6% gain.

The biggest winner in the IP&E arena is TTI. The distributor tallied a 90.9% increase in organic sales growth in N. America last year. "It didn't occur through acquisition; it's all organic growth," says Craig Conrad, TTI's senior vice president of global sales and marketing.

Conrad attributes TTI's growth to an extremely strong capacitor market and an aggressive expansion in its sales force, information systems and sales tools between 1996 and 1998 when others were cutting back. "We were in a wonderful position as things began to turn around with all these investments already put in place, and that reflects on growth."

Midsize to smaller distributors also recorded significant sales increases over the previous year. Projections Unlimited grew 177.8%, ForeSight Electronics increased sales by 94.6%; Surface-Mount Distribution boosted its revenue by 84.9%; Steven Engineering posted gains of 50.0% and Cameron and Barkley grew 49.0%.

Several independent distributors that specialize in ICs saw good gains. All of the Top 10 independent distributors experienced gains in the high double digits. Newcomer Rand Technology, which posted sales of $265.9 million, up 223.1%, led the winners. Advanced MP Technology reported sales growth of 186.4%; and Commodity Components International boosted its revenues by 118.8%.

Although many distributors reported record sales and earnings last year, many are less optimistic about this year's results due to inventory correction and slower demand, particularly in the networking, telecom and wireless markets.

Although All American set new record sales with 58% growth and increased its bottom line six-fold, President and CEO Bruce Goldberg expects first-quarter sales in 2001 to be "sequentially lower compared to the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2000. However, he believes sales will be significantly ahead of last year's first quarter.

Arthur Nadata, president and CEO of Nu Horizons Electronics Corp., agrees that there has been some weakness in book-to-bill ratios as a result of an electronic components inventory correction, but he believes it's a short-term correction.