SIC 5049 Professional Equipment and Supplies, Not Elsewhere Classified

SIC 5049

This industry classification covers establishments primarily engaged in the wholesale distribution of professional equipment and supplies that are not categorized elsewhere. It includes wholesale distributors of drafting instruments, laboratory equipment (other than medical and dental), and scientific instruments.

NAICS CODE(S)

423490

Other Professional Equipment and Supplies Wholesalers

453210

Office Supplies and Stationery Stores

Wholesale distributors of medical and dental laboratory equipment are classified in SIC 5047: Medical, Dental, and Hospital Equipment and Supplies.

INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, some 11,678 establishments were included in this industry in 2004, employing an estimated 153,554 people in the United States with an annual payroll of nearly $4.3 billion. The industry is subdivided into three segments: wholesalers primarily engaged in the distribution of religious and school supplies, which represented 10.5 percent of the market; wholesalers primarily engaged in the distribution of surveying and other professional equipment and supplies, which controlled about 19.8 percent of the market; and office supplies and stationary stores, which accounted for 57.7 percent of the market.

According to Dun & Bradstreet's 2006 figures, industry sales for the other professional equipment and supplies wholesalers segment were approximately $20.6 billion. This portion was subdivided into 17 specialties, which were led by laboratory equipment (except medical or dental) with $9.8 billion in sales and scientific and engineering equipment and supplies with $3.3 billion in sales. This segment can attribute part of its steady growth to provisions of the Clean Air Act of 1990, which brought in U.S. sales of instruments and apparatus used to measure and control pollutants. Pollution abatement programs undertaken in other countries around the world were expected to create similar increases in other markets.

Almost 61 percent of the distributors in the other professional equipment and supplies merchants employed fewer than 10 workers in 2004. Meanwhile, only about 13 percent employed more than 100 workers during that time. For the office supplies and stationery stores, the numbers were split between small and large companies as nearly 52 percent of establishments had less than 20 employees while 38 percent had more than 500...