Deidra C. Merriwether
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at W.W. Grainger
Thank you, D.G. Turning to our High-Touch Solutions segment. For the fourth quarter, we continue to see strong results with daily sales up 16.5% compared to the fourth quarter of 2020, and up 21.5% compared to the fourth quarter of 2019. In the U.S., we saw continued strong growth of our core non-pandemic category. And as a result of our growth investments, we're seeing continued growth with both large and midsized customers at 16% and 25%, respectively. The U.S. business also had strong price realization in the quarter.
We're encouraged by how Canada and Mexico finished the year both with positive daily sales growth in the fourth quarter. In Canada, the business saw a year-over-year sales growth with 11 of its 14 industries, most notably in our targeted in segments like manufacturing and higher education. Canadian daily sales were up 12.2% or 6.8% in local days local currency. For the segment, GP finished the quarter at 39.6%, up 250 basis points versus the prior year, a very strong quarter for our High-Touch Solutions segment.
We once again achieved price cost spreads slightly above neutral, and our pandemic product mix returned to near pre-pandemic levels, both driving positive improvement in gross profit. At the operating margin line, we saw an improvement of 230 basis points year-over-year. Overall, a solid quarter for High-Touch Solutions. I'd like to go into a bit more detail specifically on our U.S. GP run rate. During the quarter, we achieved a gross margin rate of 40%. We're encouraged by these results and the GP stabilization achieved in the fourth quarter.
The pandemic product mix, our pricing actions and our ability to navigate supply chain challenges supported this achievement and will be the foundation for our GP expectations in 2022. As you're aware, Grainger follows the LIFO accounting method, which requires us to revalue the majority of our inventories sold during the year based upon the most current purchase price. At the end of every year, we calculate our LIFO adjustment based upon our ending inventory balance.
This year, we increased our inventory balance significantly in the fourth quarter to set us up for 2022, and our most recent purchases were at higher costs due to inflation. As a result, our LIFO adjustment is larger than we've historically seen. You'll see this adjustment disclosed in our 10-K, and it's important to remember that is a noncash LIFO accounting impact and not a reflection of our operational performance. Moving to slide 11. During the quarter, our core non-pandemic product sales were up 28% over the prior year fourth quarter.
Compared to 2019, sales growth was quite strong at approximately 17%. In addition, our pandemic product sales were down year-over-year, remained elevated, up around 41% over 2019. As it relates to mix, our pandemic products totaled 21% of sales in the fourth quarter, very close to our pre-pandemic mix. We're excited that our product mix is stabilizing as customers return to more normal operations. In total, our U.S. High-Touch Solutions business was up 17% versus the fourth quarter 2020 and up 22% as compared to the fourth quarter of 2019.
Looking at market outgrowth on slide 12. We estimate that the U.S. market grew between 10% and 11%, and we achieved 650 basis points of market share outgrowth in the fourth quarter, largely driven by returns on our key strategic initiatives. For the full year and slightly above our expectations, we achieved approximately 100 basis points of outgrowth. To normalize for volatility over the past two years, we're continuing to calculate and show the two year average, which was about 600 basis points over the market for the fourth quarter of 2021.
We remain committed to our U.S. share gain goal of 300 to 400 basis points of outgrowth on an ongoing basis. Moving to our Endless Assortment segment. Daily sales increased 15.2% or 20.6% on a constant currency basis driven by continued strength in our new customer acquisition at both Zoro and MonotaRO and continued growth with enterprise customers in Japan. When we account for local days in local currency, MonotaRO daily sales grew 20.2%. GP expand 60 basis points year-over-year.
As a result, operating margin for the segment fished up 45 basis points over the prior year, primarily due to improved gross profit margin. Zoro operating margin improved as a result of freight efficiency, specifically from its continued focus on B2B customers. MonotaRO operating margin was down slightly compared to the prior year, primarily due to lower gross margin, a result of their product mix in the quarter. Please note the slide covering both Zoro and MonotaRO financial performance is in the appendix.
In addition, we also continue to see positive results in our operating metrics. Registered users are up 16% over the fourth quarter prior year. And on the right, we show the continued growth of the Zoro SKU portfolio with great progress this year. Overall, we continue to be impressed by the results of our Endless Assortment segment as we grow with the right customers. Moving to 2022 guidance. For the total company, we expect revenue between $14.1 billion and $14.5 billion, with daily sales growth between 7.5% and 10.5% driven by strong top line performance in both segments.
It's worth noting there is also one more selling day in 2022. Within our High-Touch Solutions segment, we expect daily sales growth between 6.5% and 9.5%. For the U.S., we anticipate growth between 7% and 10%, 300 basis points above the estimated MRO market of 4% to 7%. We expect our share gain to be driven primarily by growing volume as a result of our strategic initiatives and that will continue to price to the market. In Canada, we expect to see mid-single-digit top line growth as we continue to diversify our customer base.
In the Endless Assortment segment, we anticipate daily sales to grow roughly 14% or 18.5% in local currency and local days. Zoro's growth is anticipated to be in high teens, reflecting further SKU expansion and a continued focus on acquiring and retaining high-value daily customers. MonotaRO expects local currency growth rates in the high teens as well as they continue to grow with both small and enterprise customers. From a profitability perspective, total company GP is expected to be between 36.8% and 37.3%, up between 50 and 100 basis points in 2022.
Consistent with 2021, we expect a similar LIFO accounting adjustment as we continue to see cost inflation and build inventory. We have factored into our guidance this impact. The gross profit margin expansion is driven primarily by the High-Touch Solutions segment as GP stabilizes near pre-pandemic levels and as we continue to target price/cost neutrality. Endless Assortment gross profit is expected to be essentially flat as GP expansion at Zoro is offset by a modest GP decline at MonotaRO.
Total company operating margins are expected to be between 12.5% and 13.1%, and expand between 65 and 125 basis points versus 2021. These top line and profitability targets as well as continued execution of our share repurchase program, are expected to produce earnings per share between $23.50 and $25.50, and equated to growth between 18.5% and 28.5%. Both segments are expected to deliver high ROIC. Continuing on slide 17. In addition to total company guidance, we wanted to provide operating margins by segment, along with our plans for capital allocation.
For High-Touch Solutions, we expect operating margins between 14.4% and 15%, up between 130 and 190 basis points versus the prior year, driven primarily by gross margin expansion. SG&A leverage is expected to be modest, primarily due to continued investment in growth initiatives, anticipated health care expenses and higher wages. Endless Assortment operating margins are expected to be between 7.5% and 8.2%. This is primarily driven by MonotaRO as they continue to invest in DC capacity. Zoro continues to increase operating margins in line with our previous expectations.
Cromwell represented and other is expected to further reduce its operating losses. We anticipate closing the year with operating margin down at negative 6%. Our Cromwell improvement plan is behind our original expectations, driven primarily by business closures in the U.K. and the slowdown in the aerospace industry, one of their primary end markets. We remain confident in your ability to improve performance as during the pandemic, they have been able to grow with new customers and maintain high levels of service.
Their results will primarily be dependent on the speed of recovery across different customer end markets. From a cash flow perspective, we expect operating cash flow to be between $1.1 billion and $1.3 billion. Our capital expenditures outlook for the year is between $275 million and $325 million. This includes DC investments in North America and Japan, ESG investments to improve sustainability of our facilities, KeepStock and IT enhancements in the U.S. and a normal level of maintenance capital. We expect the balance of our cash to be used to fund our quarterly dividend and to continue share repurchases.
For 2022, we are expecting between $600 million and $800 million of share repurchases, which continues to reflect our confidence in successfully executing our strategy and in our growth initiatives. We're optimistic for a more normal year with reasonable sequential trends. As a result, we are now resuming more standard guidance practices. Similar to our approach before the pandemic, our guidance will be limited to annual expectations, and we will provide commentary and/or updates to our full year ranges as we launch it.
With that, I will turn it back to D.G. for closing remarks.
