Fastenal Co
Fastenal Company began as a partnership in 1967, and was incorporated under
the laws of Minnesota in 1968.
We sell industrial and construction supplies in a wholesale and retail fashion.
Products
Our original product offerings were fasteners and other industrial and construction
supplies, many of which are sold under the Fastenal® product name. This
product line, which we refer to as the fastener product line, consists of two
broad categories: threaded fasteners, such as bolts, nuts, screws, studs, and
related washers; and miscellaneous supplies, such as paints, various pins and
machinery keys, concrete anchors, batteries, sealants, metal framing systems,
wire rope, strut, private-label stud anchors, rivets, and related accessories.
Threaded fasteners are used in most manufactured products and building projects,
and in the maintenance and repair of machines and structures. Many aspects of
the threaded fastener market are common to all cities. Variations from city
to city that do exist typically relate to the types of businesses operating
in a market or to the environmental conditions in a market. Therefore, we open
each store with a broad selection of base stocks of inventory and then allow
the local store and district leaders to tailor the additional inventory to the
local market demand as it develops.
Sources of Supply
We use a large number of suppliers for the approximately 825,000 standard stock
items we distribute. Most items distributed by our network can be purchased
from several sources, although preferred sourcing is used for some stock items
to facilitate quality control.
Competition
Our business is highly competitive. Competitors include both large distributors
located primarily in large cities and smaller distributors located in many of
the same cities in which we have stores. We believe that the principal competitive
factors affecting the markets for our products are customer service and convenience.