Top distributors of electronic components in Russia and around the world.

On April 25, 2018, the next report “Top 50 Distributors of Electronics” [1] was released. However, we will pay attention not to the report itself, but its comparison with the similar report of 2012 and with the addition of the report by our distributors.
According to SourceToday, this year’s ranking of the top 50 global distributors indicates missed opportunities and cautious optimism. The top-10 global distributors have remained virtually unchanged since 2012, except for WPG Holdings, the leading Asian distributor, which burst onto Olympus like a hurricane, climbing a bronze pedestal (see Table 1), proving that nothing lasts forever in this world. Compared to 2012, the table has a lot of newcomers, including the well-known Rutronik company. It is difficult to say what this is conditioned by. Assume that these companies did not report their financial results earlier, as SourceToday’s website says: “Our analysis is based on financial results presented by each company and, if possible, verified by us, as well as on estimates of several private companies that declined to comment.”
 The revenue of FutureElectronics (4th place) is based on a SourceToday valuation. The company on the sixth place, TTI reported revenue separately from its subsidiaries.

Table 1. The global rating of foreign and Russian distributors of electronic components by sales volume

Only 36 electronics distributors shared sales forecasts with SourceToday, but three-quarters of them forecast double-digit growth next year, and nine respondents say their business will grow by more than 20%.
Since the rating was compiled by global distributors, it did not include Russian companies, although their volumes, despite a small share in world trade, are noticeable against the background of the second half of the list. Therefore, the author decided to add the first 15 Russian companies to the table of foreign distributors, ranking them by sales volume, but not assigning them an official rating. Generally, it seems that the compilers of the rating are primarily oriented on the European and North American markets.
The sales volume of the top ten companies is $77.3 billion, or 93.3% of the market share, whereas in 2016 it was 95%. It can be concluded that sales of small distributors are increasing faster than those of large companies, as manufacturers expand their networks to combat supply chain shortages.
The share of Russian top ten distributors in the market of electronic components according to the Information and Analytical Center of Modern Electronics is 48%. It is not entirely correct to compare the current sales volumes of foreign and Russian distributors, as foreign distributors do not pay VAT and delivery in Russia. For this reason, the current sales of Russian distributors from the Top 15 are multiplied by 0.8. As you can see, compared with the fifty first foreign companies, Russian distributors have quite decent sales volumes, which allow them to claim a share in the global distribution.
Places of global foreign distributors in the Russian market are presented in table 2.

Table 2. Rating of foreign distributors of electronic components in Russia in terms of sales

If you add the data of the two tables, then the sales rating of all foreign distributors of electronic components and Russian companies from the “Top-15” in Russia looks like that shown in table 3. Prices are shown by the approximate indicator FOB.

Table 3. Sales rating of distributors of electronic components in Russia

Sales data is taken from the “Report on the study of the Russian market of electronic components of SOOEL LLC” [2], recommended by the author to company managers.
The rating is compiled without taking into account possible double or triple sales, which account for 5-50%. Arrow can sell ETF components, which in its turn will sell them to Eltech, while Eltech will sell to the end consumer.
In Russia, there is no such stratification of distributors as abroad, when the company’s sales in the first place in the rating exceeds almost 10 times the same indicator in the third place, which is also observed in the case of companies in 10th and 20th places. Nevertheless, world practice shows that only universal distributors have chances for rapid growth and global capture of market share. The rest are doomed to slow fading or will occupy a narrow niche. Due to the specifics of the Russian market, the separation process will take more than one decade, so it is necessary to expand the business for the survival and development.
In table 4, you can see how places in the ranking of the first 20 Russian distributors over the past 10 years have changed. Data for 2008 taken from (3)

Table 4. Change in the ranking of the top twenty Russian distributors over the past 10 years

The article was published in “Electronic components” magazine