We achieved organic daily sales growth of 11.9% for the total company on a constant currency basis.
When compared to Q3 2019, the quarter was up 17.3% on a daily organic basis, driven primarily by core non-pandemic product sales, which is a positive indicator of our underlying run rate performance.
Our High-Touch Solutions in North America segment grew 11.6% on a daily constant currency basis.
In the U.S., we drove approximately 100 basis points of share outgrowth versus the prior year and 475 basis points on a two year average.
We remain confident in our ability to grow 300 to 400 basis points faster than the market on an ongoing basis.
Our Endless Assortment segment finished the quarter with 14.9% daily sales growth on a constant currency basis.
First, Zoro lapped a very strong third quarter in 2020.
In the third quarter 2021, Zoro managed to drive 11.9% revenue growth.
And when we compare that to Q3 2019, we are up 30.6%, which is really strong.
In local days and local currency, sales were up about 17.5% compared to Q3 2020.
And as we look at results versus Q3 2019, MonotaRO sales are up over 37%.
We still expect the segment to close the year with growth at about 20% above prior year.
High-Touch Solutions North America was up 140 basis points over Q3 of the prior year, and Endless Assortment was up 115 basis points.
Lastly, we returned $327 million to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases in the third quarter, and we maintained strong return on invested capital of 31.4%.
First, our SG&A was $812 million, right where we thought it would be.
Our operating earnings were $438 million, up 17.4%.
And our resulting earnings per share is $5.65 for the quarter, which is growth of 25%.
We continue to see a robust recovery with daily sales up 12% compared to the third quarter of 2020 and up 14.5% compared to the third quarter of 2019.
Both large and midsized customers saw significant growth at 10% and 19%, respectively.
Canadian daily sales were up 11.7% or 5.7% in local days and local currency compared to the third quarter of 2020.
For the High-Touch Solutions segment, GP margin finished the quarter at 39.4%, up 140 basis points versus the prior year third quarter.
In addition, consistent with the second quarter, our U.S. pandemic product mix was about 22%, an improvement versus 28% in the third quarter of 2020.
However, of particular note, our core non-pandemic sales growth was at or above 20% every month in the third quarter.
When comparing core non-pandemic sales to Q3 2019, sales were up 12%, which is quite strong.
In total, our U.S. High-Touch Solutions business is up 12% for the third quarter 2021 and up 16% as compared to 2019.
In the quarter, we estimate that the U.S. market grew between 10.5% and 11.5%, resulting in our estimated outgrowth of approximately 100 basis points versus Q3 2020.
To normalize for volatility, we are continuing to show the two year average share gain, which was about 475 basis points over the market for the third quarter of 2021, a really exceptional result.
We remain focused on our key initiatives, which give us confidence in our ability to achieve our U.S. share gain goal of growing 300 to 400 basis points faster than the market.
We're encouraged by these results and are confident in our ability to achieve our expected 40.1% GP rate in Q4 based on continued pandemic mix improvements, our expected price realization in the fourth quarter and our ability to navigate supply chain challenges.
Daily sales increased 12.7% or 14.9% on a constant currency basis, driven by continued strength in our new customer acquisition at both Zoro and MonotaRO as well as growth of larger enterprise customers at MonotaRO.
GP expanded 115 basis points year-over-year driven primarily by Zoro U.S.
Operating margin for the segment finished up 80 basis points over the prior year third quarter due primarily to improved gross profit margin.
In local currency and using Japan's local selling days, which occasionally differ from U.S. selling days, MonotaRO daily sales grew 17.5% compared to the third quarter of 2020.
GP margin finished the quarter at 25.8%, 30 basis points below the prior year third quarter, as we continue to grow with enterprise customers.
As a result, operating margin decreased 65 basis points to 12%.
Switching to Zoro U.S. Daily sales grew 11.9% as compared to the strongest sales quarter of 2020.
Zoro GP grew 375 basis points to 33.9% and achieved 325 basis points of operating margin expansion.
For the fourth quarter for revenues, we expect total company daily sales to be between 11.5% and 12.5%.
We anticipate company gross margin will fall between 37.2% and 37.4%.
And for SG&A, we expect a similar level of spending in the fourth quarter as we saw in the third quarter, between $810 million and $815 million with increased variable compensation, wages and healthcare expenses.

Summary:
First, Zoro lapped a very strong third quarter in 2020.
And our resulting earnings per share is $5.65 for the quarter, which is growth of 25%.
Canadian daily sales were up 11.7% or 5.7% in local days and local currency compared to the third quarter of 2020.