Grainger Announces Additional Product Expansion


New Catalog Launches Today With 20 Percent More Products

CHICAGO, Feb. 1 -- Grainger (NYSE:GWW), North America's leading distributor of facilities maintenance supplies, today announced the release of its enhanced 2007 product catalog featuring more than 138,000 facilities maintenance products, an increase of 23,000 items over last year's record offering.

"Our customers count on us to be a one-stop shop for a broad selection of maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) supplies so they can efficiently manage their facilities," said Kevin Peters, Grainger's senior vice president of supply chain management. "We bolstered our offering in several key categories including plumbing, material handling, fasteners and security products and today we're excited to announce that we are poised to serve even more of our customers' needs."

Customer feedback drove the addition of over 7,000 plumbing products such as high-grade pipes, valves and fittings; 4,000 material handling supplies such as conveyors, hoists and casters; 5,000 fasteners such as nuts, bolts and screws; as well as 1,600 security products such as locks and hinges. This expansion is part of an ongoing commitment to match customer product requirements with a comprehensive product offering, enabling customers to consolidate their MRO purchases and drive efficiency in their businesses. The company expects incremental sales from its product expansion to account for 1 to 2 percentage points of its growth in 2007.

In order to drive down the high costs associated with procuring unplanned items, customers including facilities managers, contractors and purchasing professionals need quick access to a broad array of facilities maintenance supplies across multiple product categories. This provides businesses and institutions the opportunity to consolidate their spending and achieve volume discounts, saving them time and money.

Grainger's expanded product offering is featured in the company's newly redesigned 2007 catalog, which is available to customers beginning today. With more than 3,000 pages of product and technical information, this year's catalog offers enhanced search and selection tools to help customers quickly find the products they need to keep their businesses running.

"Our customers told us they turn to our catalog as a reference tool for sourcing facilities maintenance products, even when making a purchase over the phone or online," said Peters. "As Grainger broadens its product line, we're also enhancing our catalog to help customers find the right products as quickly and conveniently as possible."

With its expansion, Grainger is making it more convenient for customers to source the products they need. In addition to the new, larger catalog with more products and information, the company has added new search and selection tools on grainger.com to assist customers in narrowing their selection to the right product based on factors that are relevant to the product or application. Advanced cross-referencing tools, a new dedicated plumbing catalog and employee product training will also help customers save time in sourcing the right product for their applications.

Grainger serves more than 1.7 million customers from the manufacturing, commercial, government, transportation and contractor markets by providing broad access to high quality facilities maintenance products. For immediate needs, customers go to their local Grainger branch. For same day shipping, customers order via phone or the company Web site.

Media interested in obtaining a photo of the catalog or learning more about Grainger's product expansion should call Robb Kristopher at 847-535-0879 or visit Grainger's press room at https://pressroom.grainger.com/

About Grainger

W.W. Grainger, Inc. (NYSE:GWW), with 2006 sales of $5.9 billion, is a leading broad line supplier of facilities maintenance products serving businesses and institutions in Canada, China, Mexico and the United States. Through a highly integrated network including nearly 600 branches, 17 distribution centers and multiple Web sites, Grainger's employees help customers get the job done, saving them time and money by having the right products to keep their facilities running. Grainger is the national founding sponsor of the American Red Cross Ready When the Time Comes corporate volunteer training program.

Source: W.W. Grainger, Inc.

CONTACT:

Ernest L. Duplessis,

Director, External Communications,

+1-847-535-4356,

ernest.duplessis@grainger.com

William D. Chapman,

Director, Investor Relations,

+1-847-535-0881,

william.chapman@grainger.com

Web site: http://www.grainger.com/

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