Vintron’s distribution rethink

Shipra Arora / New Delhi

Four years after moving away from distribution, PC and peripherals company Vintron is now eyeing the distribution business again. This is expected to provide an additional revenue stream to the company, which is reeling due to the economic slowdown. Sluggish PC demand has hit Vintron with a 10 percent fall in growth during FY 2002-2003. The distribution business is expected to be up and running by the end of current quarter. Even while broad-basing its business, the major focus will continue to remain on its PC business.

According to Manish Agrawal, director of operations at Vintron Informatics, the company is in advanced stages of talks with various companies for distributor partnerships. It is still deliberating on whether to go for a distribution tie-up with a single company or multiple companies. The company will be looking at product lines, that are not conflicting with its own offerings. Though declining to provide more details on this, Agrawal pointed out that Vintron will be looking at distribution of some LAN products from various companies. He was reluctant to give out details on product lines that will find their way into the company’s distribution line-up.

Improving upon its top line and bottom line is being pitched as one of the primary reasons for getting back into the distribution game. In addition to this, the company is also looking at optimally utilising its channel network by using them for distributing other products as long as they do not compete with Vintron’s own product families. “This will provide the advantage of better value to our business as we can effectively utilise the full force of the existing channel base,” said Agrawal.

Earlier in 1999-2000, the company had shifted gears from being a distribution company to a manufacturer and had severed its distribution ties with Logitech and HP. The company also had under its distribution umbrella brands like Viewsonic, Intel and Microtek (scanners) apart from Logitech and HP. The distribution mantle was cast off as the company wanted to establish itself as a brand owner and build brand equity. Now that the brand has been built it is looking at expanding its offerings to garner additional revenue and cushion the effect of the slowdown to some extent.