Nokia rejigs strategy to boost sales

Nokia Display Products is looking to reorganise its channel strategy as the vendor implements a series of measures to improve lead times and increase sales.

Paul Mayer, UK general manager for Nokia Display Products, told PC Dealer the vendor was setting up a buffer warehousing operation in the UK to reduce lead times that currently run at two weeks.

The vendor is also seeking additional distributors and will launch a reseller accreditation programme.

Two months ago, Mikael Zar, Nokia's caretaker UK manager, was looking to reorganise its UK channel strategy after failing to hit sales targets (PC Dealer, 17 June).

Mayer, who was appointed general manager six weeks ago, said: 'It went without saying that we had to revise the channel. We need a higher profile in the UK and we need to be more proactive. We've had steady growth over the past couple of years, while our competitors have been doubling sales.'

He refused to confirm how many distributors Nokia would appoint, but said: 'Any new distributors would have to add incremental business. We will be talking to specialists who either deal mostly in monitors or operate in market segments that we don't.

But we're not in a position to take on another broadliner.

'The UK is the second biggest market in Europe and we have a big brand image in our other products. But we need to make sure that we are on the shortlist for the big corporate contracts,' Mayer added.

However, Bob Johnson, marketing manager at Imago Micro, did not think it was a good move to take on extra distributors.

'If you spread the butter too thin, it doesn't taste too good, and when you appoint more distributors, nine times out of ten your margin goes down. But I respect Nokia's plan and we still want to be part of the package,' he said.