The Ceramic Tile Distributors Association (CTDA) and the North American Association of Floor Covering Distributors (NAFCD) announced that they will be collaborating for the first time on the 2021 CTDA-NAFCD Financial Benchmarking Program. The program is designed to optimize distributor performance in an environment of relentless pressure on profit margins. In 2021, the program looks to provide flooring and ceramic tile distributors with an even broader view of the distribution channel by sharing aggregated financial data across both membership networks.

Administered by third-party research firm, Benchmarking Analytics, the survey provides distributor participants a side-by-side analysis of their performance metrics next to industry averages, allowing for easy identification of areas for improvement and a better understanding of the "best practices" of high-performing distribution companies.

"We are excited to provide our distributor members with an even more valuable decision-making tool in 2021 by partnering with CTDA to more than double our sample size allowing flooring distributors an even greater opportunity to assess their business' performance, identify areas of improvement and uncover opportunities for growth," said Kevin Gammonley, executive vice president, NAFCD.
 
CTDA’s Executive Director Rick Church added, “Partnering with NAFCD on this annual distributor performance benchmarking survey will help participating distributors make important business decisions as they can measure their performance against the best of not only the independent ceramic tile distributors but also the best of the flooring distributors. Every distributor should be excited to take advantage of this unique opportunity to improve their performance.”

Both associations have been providing financial benchmarking to their member for many years and the annual reports provide some of the most detailed analyses of operating and employee performance available to distributors. The 2021 program has a number of objectives, including:

• Provide an opportunity to compare a distributor’s performance to reputable industry performance targets.
• Present data that may allow distribution managers to rethink their assumptions about strengths and weaknesses.
• Shed light on weak distribution performance and inefficient processes.
• Deliver insight into whether payroll expenses are in-line with industry averages.
• Facilitate resource allocation decision-making.
• Allow participating distributors to compare their performance against just CTDA distributors, just NAFCD distributors or the entire participating group.

The 2021 CTDA-NAFCD Financial Benchmarking Program will collect 2020 data from participating distributors providing the first clear picture of how the channel performed during the unusual year that was 2020. The survey opens on April 1 and a final report will be available in June.

For more information, visit ctdahome.org and nafcd.org.