Australian software publisher Manaccom would spend $500,000 establishing an office in the Chinese industrial city of Shenzen, to tap into one of the world’s fastest growing IT markets.
Manaccom -- which has cornered the market in Australia for fast-moving consumer software -- recently expanded into corporate sales and the distribution of hardware accessories through retailers.
It hoped to generate around $5 million in sales revenue from the China operation in the first 12 months, said James Mackay, director of publishing at Manaccom. It was expected to be profitable within six months.
“We can’t go too much further in retail. If we’re going to maintain double digit growth, we need to do it in ways that aren’t conventional,” he said.
Products could be popular in the Chinese market include IntelliRoster, a staff scheduling software package and the Acronis range of PC utility packages.
The team in China would not just be operating as a sales office for Manaccom. The company wanted to strike OEM agreements with Chinese manufacturers and the operation would also procure new products for the company’s accessories and hardware lines, Mackay said.
“We considered both India and China but after some pretty hard thinking and a visit to Shanghai, we were convinced our first [Asian] foray should be in China,” Mackay said. He added that personnel, red-tape and future potential were over-riding factors for the decision.
“China is moving forward with programs in place to get people access to computers,” he said.
He said the while it was expensive to establish an overseas operation, the sheer weight of numbers on Asian continents makes the investment worth the risk.
Opening an office in the US or UK was not necessary due to existing distribution relationships the company had in those countries.
In the US its products are distributed by Access International and United Distribution; and by Greenstreet Software CompuTrolley Worldwide in the UK.
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