OCC woos resellers with bulk deals
Some 42 resellers have invested £1.6m in Office Centre Central, a group of partners aiming to use their bulk buying power to win better sourcing deals.
Some 42 resellers have invested £1.6m in Office Centre Central (OCC), a group of partners aiming to use their bulk buying power to win better sourcing deals.
Bill Hill, former Hewlett Packard (HP) small businesses manager who is now managing director of OCC, said he expects the move to change the distribution market.
"I don't like to use the term socialist but there are some socialist qualities to our concept," he said. "As distribution stands today, the smallest firms have to pay the highest prices because they don't get corporate level discounts. We aim to give power to those people."
Hill moved out of HP's group-based Office Centre scheme when he saw the opportunity to extend the concept beyond HP products.
"HP's idea was excellent but one dimensional. In an end-to-end solution resellers are bound to need something that isn't in HP's product range," he said.
OCC will also go beyond volume discounts by going directly into the small to medium sized enterprise (SME) business space and trying to win contracts for its members. "Partners can then source product directly from us for the business we provide, let us supply the hardware and then integrate it, or act as an agent for out-of-the-box, low-margin orders, like printers," said Hill.
Nat Hart, managing director of OCC reseller Landscape, backed the scheme because he said it has great potential. "Between us, [the OCC resellers] spend over £100m annually and now we can offer any SME the lowest prices and provide nationwide cover," he said.
Group-based purchasing has been used in the electronics, office stationary and consumer markets by firms such as Euronics, COG and Letsbuyit.com, but the OCC move is the first time that resellers have had the option to work together.
OCC will initially source all of its products from Computer 2000, but a second distributor is expected to sign this week.