THIEF RIVER FALLS, Minnesota -- Digi-Key Corporation is officially a billion-dollar company. The electronic components distributor announced that it surpassed $1 billion in worldwide sales in 2010. While the company anticipated reaching this milestone in 2010, the achievement came ahead of schedule.
"Reaching and surpassing $1 billion in annual worldwide sales is a major accomplishment for Digi-Key and one for which we have diligently worked," said Mark Larson, Digi-Key's president and COO. "Digi-Key has grown by an average of 15% each year since 1987. This is real, organic growth – not the result of acquisition, but growth based on Digi-Key's expanded reach to customers around the globe."
The privately held electronic components distributor says it was on track to reach $1 billion in sales in 2008 before the global economic recession caused sales to decrease in the last half of the year. Despite the economic downturn and a decrease in sales of nearly 6% for 2009, Digi-Key gained market share in the down market. Some of Digi-Key's publicly held competitors experienced far greater sales decreases, claims the distributor, making it more difficult for them to "bounce back" when the economy began to revive.
"Digi-Key gained market share in the down market of 2009 because our decrease in sales was about half that of the electronic distribution industry. Digi-Key is gaining share in the up market of 2010 as our sales increase at a rate almost twice that of the industry. We are really outdistancing the pack when it comes to gaining market share in this industry," Larson said.
As of this month, Digi-Key's worldwide sales have increased by more than 75% year over year. The company is projected to reach nearly $1.5 billion in worldwide sales for 2010.
Digi-Key's growth is partially attributed to increased sales in Brazil, China, Europe, India, Japan, Mexico, Russia, and other regions around the world. Below is a list of several countries in which Digi-Key experienced increased sales year over year for January through June 2010:
Brazil – increase of 68.4%
China – increase of 342.76%
Estonia – increase of 99.22%
Germany – increase of 163.22%
Hungary – increase of 216.25%
India – increase of 61.88%
Japan – increase of 139.92%
Lithuania – increase of 190.02%
Mexico – increase of 109.89%
Romania – increase of 256.34%
Russia – increase of 119.75%
Slovakia – increase of 224.97%
Spain – increase of 137.03%
Switzerland – increase of 198.91%
Ukraine – increase of 80.74%
United Kingdom – increase of 113.71%
"Much of our sales growth can be attributed to Digi-Key's expanding presence online," said Tony Harris, Digi-Key's chief marketing officer (CMO). "We are targeting several initiatives to give our customers a myriad of resources for product information, education, application, and selection on our website, with ore to come in the future."
