C2000 abandons Brother printers

Computer 2000 has ditched Brother as a supplier of mono-laser printers to its peripherals division, as part of a strategy that the distributor hopes will establish it in the top two in every line in its portfolio.

Andy Dow, general manager of peripherals at Computer 2000, told PC Dealer the decision to part company with Brother would enable the distributor to offer resellers a better service.

'The truth is that we weren't big in Brother's market and it wasn't big in ours,' said Dow. 'By putting more resources into less manufacturers, we can add value to each manufacturer and offer the reseller a much better package.

The product lines we choose to sell are key in this process.'

'Although Brother has a successful product line, for us to be a major player would have required greater focus. Brother's strength is in the UK and we need a more European outlook.'

There is no 'immediate desire' to replace Brother with another vendor, Dow said. The peripherals division will concentrate mainly on the Hewlett Packard, Epsom, Kyocera and Tektronix product lines and Dow intends to increase staff in Computer 2000's sales and marketing division by 50 per cent.

In a statement, Keith Whittle, general manager of Brother's printer division, said: 'The decision to part company with Computer 2000 is entirely amicable and we believe we are in a strong position to implement strategies designed to improve communications, involvement and, ultimately, sales with our distributors.'

Whittle added that Brother would be working with four distributors - Midwich Thame, Micro Peripherals, Ingram Micro and Northamber. This confirmed that Brother's distribution agreement with Enta Technologies has also been terminated, as revealed by PC Dealer two months ago (PC Dealer, 24 June). At the time, Jon Atherton, general manager at Enta Technologies, dismissed the claim as 'scaremongery'.