Majority of AHMA members say sales are up

An American Hardware Manufacturers Association (AHMA) survey of members found 58% of respondents say sales were higher in March, compared with the year-ago period.

That’s up from 48% who said the same in February.

Timothy Farrell, AHMA president and CEO said: “It is encouraging to see 58% of our members reporting higher sales on a year-over-year basis, but we continue to feel that sales have a potential to be even better for our industry. When the housing sector recovers to pre-recession levels and the national employment situation improves, we expect to see much more robust sales growth for the industry.”

Looking forward one year, 79% of respondents project sales will be higher, up from 60% who felt that way in February. Eleven percent of March respondents project sales will be even one year from now, and 11% project sales will be below current levels.