Samsung signs TodayTech as new distributor

Electronics giant Samsung has added TodayTech to its distribution ranks as it looks to get more traction in the local system builder market.

Under the agreement, TodayTech would have access to Samsung’s range of hard disk drive and optical drives, MP3 players, printers and monitors. Notebooks were not part of the deal.

TodayTech joined Ingram Micro, Westan, Altech and IT Wholesale as Samsung’s national distributors. The company also has two or three distributors in each state.

Joe Sierra, national sales manager for the IT division of Samsung, said the company wanted to get traction in the system builder market which TodayTech services well.

Sierra said Samsung had seen some “good volumes” with optical drives and its hard drive business was “growing in leaps in bounds.”

TodayTech also had a good presence in areas such as Canberra, Newcastle, Western Australia and South Australia.

He assured that there was minimal cross-over between the company’s distribution partners. He said with any distribution strategy, “as long as the vendor minimises cross-over, it doesn’t matter if you’ve got one or 15”.

Jack Zhong, CEO at TodayTech, said the company recognised Samsung as the number one brand in the world for electronics products. Its focus on digital entertainment products, large product line and competitive pricing in the market was of clear benefit to its dealers, he said.

Other Samsung distributors had mixed reactions about TodayTech’s appointment. Kevin Hartin, national sales manager at Samsung distributor Altech, said he would like to see fewer national distributors. “It means there is less variables in terms of what people are doing with pricing,” he said.

However, the addition of TodayTech could mean Altech would have access to a larger range of Samsung products, he said. Altech could potentially get direct access to Samsung hard drive products, he said.

“I suppose you give with one hand and take with the other,” he said. Altech also had an existing supply relationship with TodayTech.

The TodayTech arrangement was oriented towards system building which was a “smaller part” of Altech’s business, he said.

Victor Aghtan, managing director at Samsung distributor Westan, put it bluntly: “They’re way over-distributed. I feel that vendors decide to take the pie, split it into smaller slices with the expectation that they can grow the pie where I don’t think this is the case.”

However, eventually market forces would eventually determine whether a distribution model was working or not, he said. “I’m not concerned because I always feel that market forces will sort it out,” he said.