A sign of the times

Business blossoms

Vendors are turning their attention towards business-to-business offerings which include commercial-grade screens, projectors and media players. This type of hardware is widely used for in-store marketing across a variety of vertical sectors including retail, transportation, healthcare and government.

During 2008 several IT vendors bowed out of the Australian consumer technology market. Hitachi was first in line to announce it would wrap up its consumer electronics offering of home entertainment and appliance products in Australia in January.

Dipak Kumar, general manager Electronic Components Group at Hitachi, assured the market that Hitachi’s business divisions were continuing within Australia.

Hitachi’s head office, according to Kumar, wanted to concentrate on areas where it feels it doesn’t have much of a presence. “We want to ramp up the B2B division in Australia. This includes specialist products such as business-grade LCD screens and projectors,” he said.

Not long after, NEC also bowed out of the low-end LCD monitor market. Daniel Hancox, national channel manager of NEC’s newly consolidated Commercial Display Solutions division, said the decision offered resellers an opportunity to make higher margins on display products.

“Let’s face it, resellers are better off advising a financial institution on the usage of digital signage and looking at these types of products,” he said.

“There’s definitely more of an advantage to selling a total solution than competing in the consumer electronics market, where end-users can jump on the ’net and get
a better price on a TV.”