TomTom signs up Pioneer Electronics

GPS vendor TomTom has signed a distribution agreement with Pioneer Electronics to push its products to automotive retailers.

These products include GO 710, GO 910 and their accessories including charging kits, iPod connect and audio cable and additional batteries.

Pioneer will also handle TomTom Rider – a GPS product for motorbikes and scooters and TomTom ONE a portable navigation product.

Remo Behdasht, country manager at TomTom said the vendor will continue to use Ingram Micro to distribute all of these products through to traditional CE and IT retail channels.

“Ingram actually can’t distribute to other markets like the automotive channel. We wanted to push our products through to automotive retailers like Repco, AutoBarn, Strathfield and JB HiFi,” he said.

“Pioneer Electronics only produces automotive sound systems and the vendor liked our navigation products.”

According to Behdasht, Pioneer sales teams will take TomTom products along with its own sound systems from dealership to dealership.

“Ingram Micro and Pioneer are two separate channels and we have exclusive agreements with each distributor,” said Behdasht.

“If a distributor came to us about distributing, then we would turn around and say 'yes you can', but you have to do it through those two distributors, as sub-distributors.”

Behdasht said the vendor’s local office dealt with sales and marketing, with everything else done through TomTom’s headquarters in Amsterdam.

“We only want to deal with two customers Ingram and Pioneer, to keep TomTom’s costs down.”