Distributors find easy living in summertime

UK distributors have managed to buck the trend for the usual quiet summer months with a number of companies reporting record trade figures, leading to observations that buying habits are levelling out through the business year.

Sukh Rayat, general manager at components distributor Flashpoint, said it had experienced unprecedented sales for the time of year. 'July has been unbelievable, our strongest ever,' he commented.

Rayat said sales of ATI graphics cards and AMD's K6 chip had been particularly impressive, but also attributed some of the credit for booming sales to changes in buying trends. 'Buying patterns are changing - they seem to be levelling out through the year,' he added.

David Clark, marketing director at broadliner Computer 2000, said: 'The seasonal peaks do seem to have flattened. We are recording considerable year-on-year growth throughout the summer period.'

Darren Lewitt, peripherals account manager at Midwich Thame, added that July was becoming the second busiest month of the year.

Bob Johnson, marketing manager at multimedia distributor Imago Micro, claimed its decision to aggressively tackle the summer slowdown had resulted in a 'very good' July.

'We decided four or five months ago that we needed to bring products and technology to market to increase turnover during the summer, rather than just sitting down and selling what we had,' he said.

Peter Rigby, marketing director at CHS Electronics, described sales as 'unexceptional, but the norm for the time of year'.

One source said: 'It is surprising how much business we have done over the summer months. We just didn't expect it. It has actually put our staff under pressure as the remainder of them have been away on holiday.'