Tech Data Corp. (Nasdaq: TECD)has addressed promotions and special bid pricing, two important issues with resellers that needed to be resolved.
From now on Tech Data’s Web site (www.techdata.com) will be able to capture all vendor special bid pricing promotions for resellers at the point of purchase, which is one hurdle in overcoming the complexity of special bids. The other online tool Promotion Search Tool was created from scratch to help resellers track all active special bid pricing available to them and their end-user customers.
Joe Quaglia, Tech Data’s senior vice president for U.S. marketing, said special bid pricing has been one of the channel’s biggest challenges for many years.
Investments in our internal IT systems and enhancements to techdata.com make it possible for us to bring an innovative, best-in-class solution to the channel. We are making it easier for resellers to access, track and apply special bid pricing promotions available to them, and we are helping vendors better communicate special pricing to partners. Our solution saves time, is a powerful lead-generation tool and ensures SMB resellers are as competitive as possible on pricing.
Currently more than 30,000 active special bid pricing promotions are being tracked on the Web site including broad pricing promotions granted by vendors targeted at vertical markets such as healthcare, government and education. It will also deal with custom pricing special end user customer usually a hospital, university or large enterprise.
For resellers logging onto www.techdata.com, they will see products listed under search results or added to the online shopping cart are now available with associated special promotions resellers can instantly apply.
In addition, Tech Data’s online Promotion Search Tool enables resellers to view all special bid pricing promotions available to them. Resellers can search for special promotions by vendor name, product number, end-user name and market to review all bids assigned to their account by Tech Data’s vendor partners.
Mergers and acquisitions
Synnex (NYSE: SNX)and Arrow Electronics Inc. (NYSE: ARW)were certainly busy this week acquiring companies. Synnex nabbed three. In that mix are: Aspire Technology Ltd. and Encover, Inc., both are privately-held firms.
Aspire services IT vendors, distributors and resellers primarily in Europe driving renewal services through its proprietary RenewalsManager SaaS platform. Encover provides automated services primarily focused in the U.S., enabling IT vendors to manage renewals through their enterprise ChESS platform and providing professional services to increase warranty and license renewal rates.
Synnex CEO Kevin Murai said that both will become the foundation of the company’s new platform BPO services.
Synnex also bought controlling interest in Marubeni Infotec Corporation (MIT), a subsidiary of Marubeni Corp. MIT is a distributor of IT equipment, electronic components and software throughout Japan and has annual revenues of approximately $1.1 billion.
Murai said of MIT that it will help Synnex re-enter the Japanese market, which represents more than one-third of the Asian IT market. MIT was founded in 1858 and is one of Japan’s largest corporations with more than 5,600 employees and 118 offices in 71 countries.
Meanwhile Arrow inked an agreement pursuant to acquire all of the assets and operations of Intechra, an IT asset disposition company.
Intechra offers legislative compliance, data security and destruction, risk management, redeployment, remarketing, lease return, logistics management, and environmentally responsible recycling of all types of information technology.
D&H Distributing announces it is building a portfolio of tablet-based PCs, both by investing in relationships with new tablet manufacturers, and by supporting the efforts of existing vendor partners such as Lenovo, HP, ASUS, and Acer that are planning launches in Q4 of 2010 and Q1 of 2011.
D&H is also pursuing relationships with emerging tablet makers, such as Archos, which sells a series of Android-based mobile devices in various sizes available now, including a 10.1-inch tablet, in addition to Windows-based models.
TechSelect Conference
More than 400 technology executives, and sales and marketing professionals, including more than 250 IT resellers attended the TechSelect conference in Las Vegas.
Pete Peterson, senior vice president, U.S. Sales, Tech Data said the sheer growth of TechSelect is a true testament to the value created by this premier group of SMB resellers. The TechSelect community represents more than $1.5 billion in combined technology purchases from Tech Data and is growing three times as fast as the market.
Ingram matches Haiti relief efforts from employees
Ingram Micro (NYSE: IM) employees worldwide have collected about $50,000 in donations for Haiti relief efforts. Ingram has decided to match those contributions and will donate a total of $100,000.