Digital footprint sales at Fastenal outpaced overall company growth in its fiscal Q1 2026.
Fastenal describes its digital footprint as “a combination of our sales through FMI (FASTStock, FASTBin, and FASTVend) plus that portion of our eBusiness sales that does not represent billings of FMI services.”
In its fiscal Q1 2026, which ended March 31, Fastenal reported $2.20 billion in net sales. That’s a 12.4% increase compared to about $1.96 billion in Q1 2025.
Also in the quarter, Fastenal noted macroeconomic challenges tied to tariffs and war. Its fiscal Q1 ended about a month after the U.S. and Israel began their war on Iran.
On Fastenal’s Q1 earnings call with investors, CEO Daniel Florness gave an example of pricing increases tied to that war.
“There are some commodities right now — if you’re trying to source nitro gloves, good luck because the cost of that has gone through the roof in the last 60 days as a result of what’s going on in the Middle East,” Florness told investors. “But what we’re really aggressively doing in the marketplace is arming our customers and our teams with information to make trade-offs.”
Fastenal account growth in Q1
That was Fastenal’s third consecutive quarter of double-digit growth, according to chief sales officer Jeffery Watts. On the earnings call, Watts said the “industrial economy remains somewhat challenging.”
The manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) averaged about 52.6 this quarter, “which is an improvement but still moderate overall,” he said. The index is an economic indicator and monthly assessment of the manufacturing sector. The further the reading is from 50, the greater the rate of change (above 50 is an expansion in the market, while below 50 is a contraction).
“Largely, we won new business with key accounts,” Watts said. “We expanded customer site presence, and we strengthened our value-added services and solutions.”
He said Fastenal’s total contract count grew about 8% year over year in Q1 to a total of more than 3,600. About 75% of Q1 sales came from those customers, he added. Additionally, the customer sites spending $50,000 or more per month increased 16.3% in Q1, to total more than 2,900 sites.
Those sites now account for more than half of Fastenal sales, Watts said, with 21% revenue growth.
In March alone, Fastenal international sales grew about 24%, Watts said. That growth primarily came from Europe and Asia, he said.
“And even though today, they’re a smaller piece of the pie, this performance is exactly what we want to see as we continue to invest in our global expansion,” Watts said.
Fastenal digital sales rise in Q1 2026
In its fiscal Q1 2026, Fastenal said its total “digital footprint” sales reached $1.37 billion. That marked 13.6% year-over-year growth.
Overall, its digital footprint represented 61.5% of sales in Q1, Fastenal said. That’s slightly more than the 61.0% of sales that came from Fastenal digital channels in Q1 2025.
The ebusiness, or electronic transactions, by itself accounted for 29.1% of total sales. That’s a smaller percentage than the prior year (30.7%) but a larger total ($648.8 million in Q1 2026 vs. $607.7 billion in Q1 2025).
Watts said Fastenal signed almost 7,000 new FMI device agreements in Q1. That was about 110 per day, on average, and an 8% increase year over year.
“We do anticipate digital adoption to continue to rise as more and more customers integrate their procurement systems with Fastenal,” Watts told investors. “Our investments in technology are delivering measurable results. By expanding our digital footprint through FMI and ecommerce, we’re winning new business, and we’re driving profitable growth.”
Percentage changes may not align exactly with dollar figures due to rounding. Check back for more earnings reports. Here’s last quarter’s update about Fastenal digital sales.
Sign up
Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Follow us on LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and YouTube.