Advantage: Compubase survey on the way
This is the second PC Dealer Advantage page, a regular feature which sets out to tell you about channel events and the research, programmes and partnerships that will help you do better business.
Response to the Compubase Second National Survey, conducted in association with PC Dealer, has been very good. Many thanks to all of you who have already replied. For those who have not, there is still time - you will be receiving a second opportunity during January.
This is the second year that Compubase and PC Dealer have worked together on this research project and we now have sufficient data to start making sense of the shifting trends and growth areas in the IT channel in the UK, comparing data from last year with this year's response.
Compubase specialises in the gathering, organisation and analysis of information about the IT channel throughout Europe. The results of this market research are the fruit not only of the work done annually on the National Survey, but continual gathering of data by Compubase's teams of telemarketers throughout the year. This includes carrying out research for PC Dealer's Perspectives features on specific areas of interest within the IT business.
The research will, among other things, compare 1997's figures with 1998-99's breakdown of reseller's turnover, not only by type of IT product and systems sold, but also by looking at the extent to which service and/or software development is increasingly playing a part in the reseller's activities. Are dealers increasingly becoming Vars? Where is the dividing line between them? Is the migration away from hardware resale as widespread as some pundits suggest? What of e-commerce? How many of this new breed of e-reseller are there in the UK and, more importantly, are they making any money?
Simon Wallis, the UK manager of Compubase, says: 'We gather information on the indirect channel across Europe, and the UK is probably the most volatile of all the leading European territories. Keeping track of the changing sands of the channel is a huge task, and we expect the differences between this year's and last year's surveys to illustrate the extent of these changes, as well as highlighting exactly where the areas of movement are.'
The market research will concentrate on the following areas:
- The migration of dealer revenues from hardware sales to service
- The evolution of software development as part of the reseller's sales offer
- Analysis of the channel by type and brand of products sold
- Developments in the networking reseller channel
- The influence of telecoms on the UK IT channel
- The advent of the e-reseller.
The principal findings of this market research will be exclusively published in PC Dealer during April. The full, in-depth research results will be presented to Advantage Programme members at a channel conference which PC Dealer will be organising. The UK National Survey Research Report will be a hard-copy version of the detailed research findings and this will also be available for purchase at reduced rates for Advantage Programme members.