The third quarter was a decent one but not a blowout for Global Industrial Co. As a result, Global Industrial is targeting new markets for growth opportunity and doubling down on ecommerce.

Global Industrial says more than half of all sales transactions are done online. The industrial and maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) supplies distributor generated total sales of $298.5 million for the third quarter ended Sept. 30. That’s an increase of 7.6% from sales of $277.4 million in Q3 2021.

Barry Litwin, CEO, Global Industrial Co.

Third-quarter net income for continuing operations was $20.3 million. That compares with $23.2 million in the prior year’s third quarter.

“As we move through the quarter, the demand environment softened, a trend that has continued as customers have generally taken a more guarded approach to buying decisions, given the broader uncertainty in the market,” CEO Barry Litwin told analysts on the company’s most recent earnings call, according to a transcript from SeekingAlpha.com.

Global Industrial focuses on more markets

To continue to grow both online and offline going forward, Global Industrial will focus on new markets such as health care and continue to invest in ecommerce.

“Hospitality and health care are large markets with tremendous potential, the ones in which we have historically garnered low penetration,” Litwin told analysts. “We are targeting these opportunities by staying true to who we are, meeting with our core offering of furniture and décor, storage and shelving, and carts and trucks while augmenting these solutions with additional products.”

In the third quarter, Global Industrial opened a new Toronto distribution center and launched a major ecommerce site update.

Litwin noted that Global Industrial recently launched a new digital ecommerce platform. Its improved user experience includes “easier mobile navigation, personalized recommendations, auto reorder functionality, faster checkout, and the addition of Knowledge Center content to product category pages.”

The company’s Knowledge Center provides customers with educational materials including product videos.

“We completed the launch of our new digital ecommerce site,” Litwin said. “It includes enhanced functionality aimed at driving personalization of sales, marketing and merchandising offerings, which is an important pillar of our customer-centric strategy.”

For the first nine months of the fiscal year, Global Industrial reported:

• Total sales increased year over year to $905.6 million. That’s up 13% from $801.1 million for January through September in the prior year.
• Net income for continuing operations was $64.7 million vs. $49.8 million in the first nine months of 2021.

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