A US-based smart home vendor will expand its Australian presence with a new distribution strategy, by dropping its distributor and going direct to resellers.
Control4 will start selling directly to resellers from next month once its contract with distributor Advanced Audio Australia ends.
To expand its reach with resellers, Control4 said it would hire Australian staff to handle all sales, technical support and training activities.
This will build on the local presence Control4 has already established since its January 2015 acquisition of Nexus Technologies, a provider of audio and video distribution products.
Control4 chief executive Martin Plaehn said the direct-to-reseller strategy would help the NASDAQ-listed company win new customers and improve customer satisfaction.
Control4 has also bypassed distributors in some of its other markets – the UK and China since 2011 and Germany since 2015.
Advanced Audio’s national sales manager, Michael Di Meglio, said the distributor had performed strongly and invested heavily during the six years it had held the Control4 contract.
“We believe we’ve done a great job in distributing the product and building the product to a level that they saw was a viable proposition to come to Australia and run the brand themselves,” he told CRN.
“While we’re disappointed, at the end of the day that’s what happens with distribution. If you do a bad job they’ll take it off you and give it someone else; if you do a great job they’ll take it off you and do it themselves.”
Control4 sells automation systems for homes and businesses, offering personalised control of lighting, music, video, temperature, security, networking and communications.
Australian resellers that become Control4 authorised dealers will be able to order products directly from Control4 and, in most instances, to receive delivery within three business days.
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