Apple directs its dealers to disties
Top-tier resellers say they got a better service when they bought through broadline distributors
Apple?s top-tier resellers were forced to buy through distributors while the company installed SAP software. And many found they preferred it that way.
The SAP system, designed to speed up the ordering process for Apple?s top tier resellers, has been installed over the past 10 days. Many direct resellers that had to order through distributors such as Computers Unlimited, Frontline, and Ingram Micro while the system was being installed, said product fulfilment had improved.
Graham Reid, a buyer for the Dundee Apple Centre, said: ?The speed of delivery has actually been better from Frontline than it is from Apple. From Frontline we?re getting product next day.? Bob Willans, managing director of High Wycombe-based Mela Computers said going through Frontline ?actually speeded up the product flow?.
But Apple?s indirect resellers complain that they lost out to the direct dealers while the installation was taking place. Matthew Carr-Gomm, director of Apple Bite Systems, said: ?When customers asked for product, we were in the embarrassing situation of having to say ?Well, we won?t have it for a while?.? He said a similar situation had occurred last summer, when ?everyone was screaming for Powerbooks, but we couldn?t get hold of them anywhere?.
Frontline distribution?s commercial director Julian Klein said the company was frequently approached by Apple?s top-tier resellers. He said that of the former indirect dealers who went direct last August, ?virtually all say they?d prefer to go through us?.
Roger Whittle, MD of mail order dealership Jigsaw Systems, which moved from a direct to an indirect relationship with the vendor last August, said: ?This proves Apple should concentrate on what they are good at, which is marketing and technology, and leave distribution to Frontline and Ingram.?
Apple has launched the Powerbook 3400, which it claims is ?the fastest notebook computer in the world?.