D&H Canada is attempting to diversify its line card for the Canadian market and hopes to find diamonds-in-the-rough at this year’s CES show in Las Vegas.
General manager Greg Tobin told CDN that he and his team did find a few products to bring back to Canada, but he would not reveal what they are as they have to go through a formal announcement process.
“We are trying to find keepers; products that are relevant for VARs and we also want to bring something back for all the e-tailers in Canada. The CES show has been blending CE with IT over the last few years and is still a good source for new products,” Tobin said.
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He added that what he found from this year’s event is that the network and the Internet is still the hub for all products even accessories.
For example, Tobin visited the iLounge at CES where there were about 200 accessories vendors. He described them all as selling the same type of products the only difference being colour or glitter. The amount of accessories vendors at the show did surprise Tobin, but he said that these types of products do provide better margins than hardware and solution providers are margin enhancement products.
Another new area of interest for Tobin was digital lifestyle products targeted at health-conscience buyer and the baby boomers. “Let’s face it older people have a lot of disposable income and there were a tonne of products in this section at CES to track exercise, hearing, blood pressure, your sugar levels. There was even a digital fork that would tell you if you were eating too quickly. And, all these products can be tracked on a network,” he said.
Tobin’s strategy for CES is to bring a significant team down to Las Vegas to cover the show floor, while he spends time in the suites with vendor executives.
“The classic things we look at are mobile because it will continue to have good legs in the market and other products like tablets, notebooks; anything that keeps the business person productive,” he said.Tobin added that conference goers were not too upset with Microsoft at the show as most of them are looking to engage with hardware vendors. He did notice a bigger presence from the carriers and service providers. They too, he said, are looking to get a bigger share of wallet from those with disposable income. Tobin believes that the service providers will continue to invest in the CES show.