Snapshot: Sonepar Canada
Apr 1, 2019
By Blake Marchand
Sonepar Canada is an independent family-owned company with global market leadership in the business-to-business distribution of electrical, industrial and safety products and related solutions. The company is a proud member of the Sonepar Group, the world’s largest privately-held electrical distributor. In Canada, Sonepar is represented by 7 locally managed electrical and industrial distributors, and has over 110 locations with coverage in all 9 provinces.
Sonepar Canada is represented across those nine provinces by Dixon Electric, Gescan, Lumen, MGM Electric, Sesco, Texcan and Vallen. The company has over 2,000 employees working out of 114 offices among their distinctive brands.
Sonepar Canada’s core business is the distribution of electrical, industrial, safety and facilities maintenance products, as well as related solutions. With the rapid growth of technology, they provide a network of specialists who have the training and expertise to develop solutions tailored to their customers’ needs.
Sonepar was founded in 1969 by Henri Coisne and his brothers. Fifty years later they have developed a global reach while remaining independent and maintaining their local roots.
Headquartered in Paris, France, Sonepar is an independent family-owned company with global market leadership in B-to-B distribution of electrical products and related services. The organization grew rapidly as a result of the ongoing support of its family shareholders, organizing and structuring of its business of electrical equipment distribution. With 21.6 billion euros of revenue, Sonepar is represented by 239 entities operating in 44 countries on five continents.
One of Sonepar’s key assets is the ability to encourage and promote synergies across the entire group. A decentralized structure encourages the entrepreneurial spirit that led to Sonepar’s initial success. They are committed to facilitating the dissemination of good practices and the sharing of knowledge and experience. Deploying internal corporate social networks and resources like Yammer, MySonepar, and Sonepedia, have allowed them to maintain those local roots within their global landscape by enabling information and experience sharing.
Blake Marchand is Assistant Editor, Panel Builder & Systems Integrator.
