PDM costs now 12% of industry's revenue: National survey highlights shift in expenditure Available to Purchase

Physical distribution costs now account for at least 12% of industry's total sales revenue; there is also a substantial shift in distribution expenditure among the principal cost elements. For example, freight transport now accounts for some 30% of distribution budgets. This is one of the findings which has emerged from the National Survey of Distribution Costs, launched by the Centre for PDM last year and carried out by PW International. In this feature, Brian McKibbin outlines the major trends now emerging from the Survey and assesses the signifance of the preliminary results in providing a yardstick against which individual companies may measure their own PDM cost performance.