LG to reduce distributors, signs Altech

LG Electronics is undertaking a review of its distribution channel with plans to reduce the number of distributors moving its IT product portfolio.

At the same time, LG this week signed Altech as a new distributor for its range of monitor, optical storage and notebook products.

The Korean electronics giant would spend the next couple of months determining which distribution partners fit best with its strategy as it looks to capture a larger share of corporate and government IT business.

LG also distributed through Bluechip IT, TodayTech, Galas, Leader, Edsys, Omega Technologies and ESPCO.

"We want to lift the brand image on the IT side of the business - [we have] a strong focus this year on corporate and government," said Mohammad Kandeel, national IT channel manager at LG Electronics. "There are probably some guys who don't fit in the scheme of things," he said.

In the meantime, Kandeel described Altech as a "good fit" for LG's distribution model. "We're getting people that fit in the right space moving forward," he said.

For Altech, having LG on board adds another string to its bow in the monitor market. The distributor also sells Samsung LCD monitor, optical storage and printer products.

Safa Joumaa, GM sales and marketing at Altech, said the company had been a Samsung house for quite a while and this was the first time it was selling a monitor brand other than Samsung. "We get asked all the time; 'Do you sell LG?' So we thought we might as well take them on because we're losing sales," he said.

"There's so many distributors selling so many different brands of monitors all in one go -- we're actually losing because we only [had] one [monitor] brand," he said.

He said the distributor was targeting LG sales revenue of between $12 million to $14 million over the next year -- around five to 10 percent of its total business in Australia. It was selling around $900,000 worth of Samsung products per month, he said.