HARDI Presents 'State of the Channel' Research Findings

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Heating, Air-conditioning & Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) premiered its State of the Channel research at its Annual Conference in New Orleans to a crowd of more than 1,000 during a breakfast general session.The team responsible for the findings was comprised of HARDI's Market Intelligence division, D+R International, and Modern Distribution Management (MDM).

• From HARDI: Team Leader of Market Intelligence, Tim Fisher, Market Research and Benchmarking Analyst, Brian Loftus, and CEO, Talbot Gee
• From D+R International: Director of Data Intelligence, Dan Vida
• From MDM: President, Thomas Gale
• Special Guest from Wells Fargo Securities: Senior Analyst, Deepa Raghavan

The State of the Channel began with HARDI’s mission: "Making wholesale distributors the channel of choice for HVACR manufacturers and contractors." To understand this, HARDI needed a way to know they were accomplishing this goal.

During the State of the Channel Address, Fisher, Gee, Vida, and Raghavan presented the first objective of this mission: defining the size of the channel.  A variety of methodologies and data sources were used, and HARDI found that the total HVACR market size was ~$70 billion. Of this, Commercial sales are ~60% of the market ($42B) and Resi sales are ~40% ($28B).  All in all, the wholesale channel is ~64% of the total market ($45B).

 “Through our State of the Channel research, HARDI established the benchmarks and methodologies necessary to track the size of the wholesale channel over time. However, to grow our market intelligence efforts, HARDI needs a wide range of additional data from suppliers, distributors, and contractors,” said Fisher. “In the year ahead, we'll look to our councils, supplier and contractor partners, and long-time HARDI supporters for help in our data aggregation efforts, and to reinforce the position of wholesale distribution as the HVACR channel of choice.”

As HARDI drills deeper into the overall composition of the market, usable datasets are rare. The HARDI team relies on manufacturer and distributor annual reports, industry surveys, and original research to establish the size of market segments.  One of the more challenging aspects of the research is estimating the applied and light-commercial shares of the commercial market.  This will be a major focus of HARDI’s research in 2020.

The State of the Channel is one part of a broader transition for HARDI, expanding their Benchmarking Pillar into the Market Intelligence Pillar. The program will continue to grow and develop through 2020 and beyond.

For more information on the State of the Channel, or if you would like to participate in the research, contact Tim Fisher at [email protected].