W.W. Grainger Inc., the biggest public distributor of MRO and industrial products, is doubling down on digital commerce.

D.G. Macpherson, chairman and CEO, said on a recent year-end earnings call that the Endless Assortment business expanded its presence last year with large as well as small and midsized customers. The Endless Assortment business offers online sales without the full-service approach Grainger provides through its High-Touch Solutions via sales teams and Grainger.com. He added that Zoro was also updating its product assortment to improve what Grainger says had been an “unfavorable product mix” that led to a drop in Q4 gross profit margins.

Grainger moves ahead in its digital commerce approach

“The Zoro team has progressed on its strategy, expanding their assortment, attracting new customers, and improving B2B customer retention,” he said.

Zoro’s Q4 sales rose 2.3% year over year to $264 million. MonotaRo’s Q4 sales increased 7.8% to $438 million. Combined Endless Assortment Q4 sales increased 6.0% to over $700 million.

Grainger’s total sales increased in Q4 by 5.1% to $3.997 billion. For the full year, they grew 8.2% to $16.5 billion.

Macpherson added that Zoro continued to focus on a strategy of presenting a personalized product assortment, assessing price competitiveness, and “proactively communicating delivery times to highlight where we are advantaged.”

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