About
Grainger at a Glance
* Overview
* Products
* Customers
* Multiple Channels
* Key Initiatives
* Business Segments
* Grainger Management
* Headquarters
Overview
Grainger helps customers save time and money by providing
them the right products to keep their facilities up and running.
Grainger's customers are 1.8 million businesses and institutions
in 150 countries. While each customer has a unique facility to
operate and a different problem to solve, our customers all share
the same requirement: when they need one of Grainger's
products, they often need it right away.
With more than 18,000 knowledgeable employees, the Grainger
team works closely with customers to better understand their
challenges and provide cost-saving solutions. Grainger's
employees serve customers more than 115,000 times every day
through multiple channels.
With 2007 sales of $6.4 billion, Grainger is a Fortune 500
company and a perennial member of Fortune magazine's Most
Admired Companies list.
Products
Grainger works with more than 3,000 suppliers to provide
customers with access to more than 870,000 products from
categories including:
* Adhesives
* Electrical
* Fasteners
* Fleet & Vehicle Maintenance
* HVACR
* Hand Tools
* Hardware
* Janitorial & Painting
* Lighting
* Material Handling
* Motors
* Office Furniture & Supplies
* Plumbing
* Pneumatics & Hydraulics
* Power Tools & Metalworking
* Power Transmission
* Pumps
* Raw Materials
* Safety
* Security
* Test Instruments
Customers
Grainger's diverse customer base is comprised of facilities
maintenance professionals from businesses and institutions of
all sizes.
* Government customers include government offices, schools
and correctional institutions on the state and local levels and
office buildings, military installations and the U.S. Postal Service.
* Heavy manufacturing customers are usually involved in
textile, lumber, metals and rubber industries.
* Light manufacturing includes food, pharmaceutical and
electronic customers.
* Retail customers include grocery stores, restaurants and
local gas stations.
* Contractor customers include contracting firms involved in
maintaining and repairing existing facilities.
* Reseller customers offer Grainger products to customers in
different markets.
* Commercial customers include hospitals, hotels and
theaters.
Multiple Channels
Branch Network - With more than 600 branches -- 430 in the
U.S.-- customers can go to their local Grainger location to pick
up their order the same day or have it shipped directly to them.
Knowledgeable customer service associates at branches
nationwide also assist customers via telephone and fax.
The Grainger Catalog - An icon in the industry for nearly 80
years, the 2007 catalog offers customers a resource with more
than 180,000 facilities maintenance products.
Grainger.com - Grainger's e-commerce solution - offers
customers the ability to order more than 300,000 products
online and have them shipped directly to them or pick them up
at one of our 438 U.S. locations. Grainger.com was the first
transaction capable web site in the industry and achieved $1
billion in eCommerce annual sales in 2007.
Key Initiatives
* Market Expansion - a multi-year program to gain share by
improving customer coverage and overall positioning of its
product and service offering in the top metropolitan markets in
the U.S.
* Product Line Expansion - in 2006, Grainger began
introducing a broader and deeper product offering that has
continued to help us better serve customers across more
unplanned purchasing situations.
Business Segments
Branch-based Distribution
o Grainger is the leading broad-line supplier of facilities
maintenance products serving business and institutions in North
America.
o Grainger, S.A de C.V. - Grainger's business in Mexico -
is the leading distributor of facilities maintenance products in
Mexico, offering customers more than 40,000 products.
o In September 2006 Grainger opened its first location in
China in the Shanghai suburb of Minhang. The Master Branch will
initially stock around 20,000 products to serve Chinese
businesses and institutions.
Subsidiary
o Lab Safety Supply, Inc. (LSS) is a leading business-to-
business direct marketer of safety and other industrial products
in the U.S. and Canada, helping customers save time and money.
Acklands-Grainger Inc.
o Canada's leading broad-line distributor of industrial,
fleet, and safety products.
Grainger Management
* President and Chief Executive Officer
James T. Ryan
* Chairman of the Board
Richard L. Keyser
* Sr. Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer
Ronald L. Jadin
* Senior Vice President and President, Grainger Industrial
Supply
Michael A. Pulick
Headquarters
Grainger's corporate headquarters is located in Lake Forest, Ill.
The company trades on the New York Stock Exchange and the
Chicago Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol GWW.