Reseller’s Report Card: Mwave

Chief executive Victor Lee founded online electronics retailer Mwave.com.au in 2006.

The Western Sydney business sells everything from business equipment to gaming accessories.

Lee is a veteran of the channel, having previously founded and operated a distributor, Anyware, before selling his share of the partnership in 2010 to concentrate full-time on Mwave’s growth.

Mwave’s vendors include Lenovo, Toshiba, Logitech, Samsung, Asus and D-Link, to name but a few.

Lee says vendors must have a definite plan and vision for marketing grants they dole out to resellers. “Vendors have to understand how to get a return from the fund. They must have a plan to utilise the money correctly.

“Vendors obviously have their own motivations and the resellers must be able to align their strategy with the vendor’s agenda. It does not matter how big the grant is, if you have no plan it is a waste of money and time for both sides.”

The CEO says such practices are critical for building a brand in the long term. “You want to see vendors that have a sensible and practical strategy to effectively drive marketing and sales. Channel investment is only worth it if they come to resellers with a growth strategy and management foundation, infrastructure, resource and skills, and customer satisfaction standards in mind.”

Lee says the Australian channel still has a lot to learn about e-commerce. “I’ve visited the US for business and found vendors over there understand e-commerce a lot better. Australian vendors need to realise e-commerce is not just ‘selling online’... there are a lot of other issues that e-commerce resellers have to think about, such as infrastruc­ture, strategy, resources and the mix of skills.”

The adverse impact of commoditisation of IT could be reduced if vendors had a better understanding of the pressures that e-commerce resellers are under, according to Lee.

“Some vendors tend to concentrate on numbers and relationships,” he said. “This just leads to a price war, which no one wants.”