MRC Global Inc, a distributor of pipe, valve and fitting products and services to the energy and industrial markets, is edging closer to the day when ecommerce will make up 50% of all sales.

Rob Saltiel, CEO, MRC Global Inc.

For Houston-based MRC, ecommerce represented 43%, or about $294.6 million, of total third-quarter sales of $685.0 billion, the company says.

For the third quarter ended Sept. 30, MRC’s total sales grew 17.1% to $685.0 million from $585 million in the third quarter of 2020. Given that ecommerce accounted for 43% of total sales for Q3 compared with 38% in Q3 of 2020, Digital Commerce 360 projects that ecommerce revenue for MRC grew year over year by 32.5% to $294.6 million from $222.3 million.

“We continue to invest in our ecommerce platform, MRCGO.com and encourage digital integration with our customers,” MRC Global CEO Rob Saltiel told analysts on the company’s most recent earnings call. “We made recent enhancements to the platform, and we continue to see an increase in usage.”

On MRCGO.com, customers: :

• Have a single point of entry and seamless navigation between MRC Global ecommerce platforms;
• Get custom pricing for individual accounts;
• See real-time inventory levels;
• Track order status;
• View products defined by customer-specific contract;
• Use a secure ordering process;
• View part numbers cross-referenced for easier search;
• Customer service assistance through online chat, email, and phone.

“Digital revenue as a percentage of total revenue continues to grow and was up more than four hundred basis points over the previous year,” Saltiel said. “Digital integration creates efficiencies for both our customers and for us and it strengthens our customer relationships while providing another value-added offering.”

Net loss for the third quarter was $11 million, compared to net income of $3 million for the third quarter of 2020. For the first nine months of the year, sales were flat and totaled $1.980 billion vs. $1.981 billion for the first nine months of 2020. MRC did not break out ecommerce metrics for the period.

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