MRC Global Inc. — a worldwide distributor of pipes, valves, fittings and infrastructure services to diversified energy, industrial, and gas utilities markets — is doubling down on digital commerce.
And the corporate is counting on artificial intelligence (AI) to be an enormous a part of the push for more ecommerce, says CEO Rob Saltiel.
MRC Global digital sales in Q1
For its fiscal first quarter ended March 31, sales for MRC Global decreased 9% to $805 million from $885 million in the primary quarter in 2023. Net income was $19 million compared with $34 million within the prior 12 months.
Today, nearly two-thirds of all U.S. orders are digital, Saltie told analysts on a recent earnings call, based on a transcript from In search of Alpha.
“Our digital strategy that began several years ago continues to evolve and deliver great dividends in the shape of additional sales and an improved customer experience. U.S. orders placed digitally hit a record 66% of total orders in Q1 of 2024,” he said.
Over time, MRC Global has developed what the corporate calls “a user-friendly digital customer support platform that along with product ordering provides self-service features corresponding to order expediting, order documentation and past order histories.”
MRC’s latest AI tool
MRC’s latest upcoming feature is a brand new advanced digital quote tool that’s being developed using AI.
“One exciting initiative that we’ve underway is the event of a digital quoting tool that leverages artificial intelligence to enhance the accuracy and timeliness of our quotes for customer product orders,” Saltie told analysts. “This tool uses AI to match customer parts and descriptions to our own to expedite the quoting process.”
The brand new digital quote tool might be rolled out sometime within the second quarter.
“This [digital quote] tool provides multiple advantages,” he told analysts. “It saves time for our salespeople in assembling a quotation. It improves our responsiveness to urgent customer needs, and it facilitates a more accurate quote-to-cash process. We’re in beta testing mode now, and we plan to roll out this quoting tool to our sales team this summer.”
MRC Global earnings
For the fiscal first quarter ended March 31, 2024, MRC reported:
- $806 million in total sales. That was down 9% from $885 million in Q1 2023.
- Net income was $13 million, down from $28 million within the year-ago period.
- MRC Global digital commerce accounted for 66% of all sales. Within the previous quarter, MRC Global ecommerce accounted for 65.5% of sales.
Percentage changes may not align exactly with dollar figures because of rounding. Check back for more earnings reports. Here’s last quarter’s update on MRC Global.
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