Hertz and Avis. McDonald’s and Burger King. Citigroup and Bank of America. Coke and Pepsi. Many industries have companies that are famously No. 1 and No. 2.
When it comes to electronic component distribution, it is Avnet and Arrow Electronics.
Both companies also do big business in distributing and installing computer and networking products. Arrow and Avnet have bulked up their IT businesses through acquisitions. Arrow this year bought the computer distribution business of Agilysys. Avnet purchased Access Distribution, GE’s computer products distribution business, and the European Enterprise Infrastructure division of Magirus Group; both of those acquisitions were folded into Avnet Technology Solutions, Avnet’s IT distribution arm, which accounts for nearly 40% of its sales.
For both Arrow and Avnet, however, electronic component distribution represents the majority of their sales (80% for Arrow). They move microprocessors and memory devices, semiconductors familiar to many people, and other types of devices that are known only to electronics engineers and designers, such as capacitors, connectors, discrete devices, and resistors.
While Avnet now makes its headquarters in Phoenix, both companies were born in the “Radio Row” neighborhood of lower Manhattan, where dozens of small shops stocking radio parts could be found. Arrow and Avnet both relocated to Long Island when Radio Row disappeared in the development of New York’s World Trade Center during the 1960s.
By acquiring many of their competitors in the component distribution business, Arrow and Avnet grew into the distributing behemoths they are now. While the two companies will always be known as “distributors,” they have expanded into design, engineering, logistics, manufacturing, and supply chain services over the decades. Arrow calls itself “a supply channel partner” to contract electronics manufacturers, OEMs, and other electronics companies. Avnet touts itself as “one of the world’s largest value-added distributors.”
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