Benchmarking to success

If you ask an ASA member what brings them the greatest value, the business intelligence and benchmarking reports the association produces almost always are in the conversation.

ASA’s Business Intelligence Unit continues to publish critical benchmarking tools that help members drive decisions using qualified market data and key performance trends for the entire industry. These resources include timely data and relative statistics tailored for every participating member.

At the forefront is ASA’s annual Operating Performance Report, a comprehensive annual benchmarking report that provides detailed performance metrics for wholesalers in the PHCP-PVF industry.

Now in its fourth decade of publication through long-time ASA business intelligence partner Industry Insights, the new 2025 OPR just was released to wholesaler members that provided their data for the report and is available for purchase for those companies that did not turn in data.

Industry Insights Senior Vice President Greg Manns notes data from the 2025 report shows 2024 was a challenging year compared to a few of the recent ones. However, Manns cautions he is not painting a picture of gloom and doom because ASA wholesaler respondents still reported a fairly solid year when looking from a historical perspective over the last 5-10 years.

Manns adds that last year ASA participants posted modest nominal sales growth of 1.7%, which effectively flattened out once adjusted for inflation. Although operating expenses rose across the board, a slight uptick in gross margins — combined with disciplined cost management — helped distributors sustain a healthy 5.3% pre-tax profit margin, Manns explains.

Manns goes on to say returns remained solid, with a 9.3% ROA (return on assets) and a 14.5% ROE (return on equity) — figures that, while the lowest in four years, are still impressive amid today’s economic uncertainty.

This is the type of detail and data available in ASA’s Operating Performance Report.

“In such a challenging environment, the OPR is more valuable than ever, providing the peer-group benchmarks needed to effectively gauge your performance and evaluate your strategic priorities,” Manns adds.

If you have never provided data to this study (it’s 100 percent confidential and ASA never sees individual company data), I encourage you to do so. At a minimum, purchase the report and see how your company compares with others in the industry in many key financial categories.

I wanted to also bring to your attention three relatively new additions to the ASA business intelligence suite of tools.

A few years back, ASA started doing these quarterly market surveys. The twist is prior to the survey being launched, ASA members are asked what questions they would like other ASA members to answer. It’s turned out to be a huge hit. Respondents are encouraged to elaborate as much as possible, so you are getting much more than yes-no answers, giving it a true best-practices-sharing feel.

The surveys focus on wholesalers, manufacturers and reps, and one done on showrooms last year received such a large response that the report with all the responses had to be broken into three parts. If you see one of these questionnaires cross your desk, please take the time to fill it out.

An upcoming survey will focus on the critical topic of the transfer of industry knowledge from veteran, retiring employees to the next generation. And from what I am hearing, it could be the biggest response yet.

Three years ago now, ASA started its Voice of the Customer series, where the association surveyed your customers on topics such as relationships with wholesalers, product training, product delivery preferences and more.

After doing ones on plumbing and mechanical contractors and builders, the third part of the series is in production, where ASA will be surveying plumbing and mechanical engineers and specifiers. Results of that Voice of the Customer survey will be available closer to NETWORK2025 in the fall.

And finally, ASA has taken the former monthly Industrial Piping Division Commodities Report to another level with the revamped IPD Materials Market Digest, which typically is a 12-page monthly document loaded with not only important commodities information and trends for those doing business in the industrial and mechanical PVF space, but also contains boots-on-the-ground reports from ASA members doing work in that sector.

Whether you are a wholesaler, supplier or independent manufacturers rep, ASA continues to be at the forefront when it comes to providing these key benchmarking tools that can help you win in your business.

If you have questions about the OPR, the quarterly market surveys, Voice of the Customer series and the Materials Market Digest, don’t hesitate to reach out to ASA’s Bri Baresel (bbaresel@asa.net).