Varlink expands its retail offering

Mobile computing distributor branches out with new EPoS arm

Pullon: We felt it was time to look at gentle diversification

Mobile computing and data capture distributor Varlink is diversifying from its roots with the launch of a new arm, EPoS Distributor.

EPoS Distributor will stock retail hardware such as electronic point of sale (EPoS) terminals, touch monitors and cash drawers, as well as a subset of products from Varlink’s existing vendors.

Mike Pullon, chief executive of Varlink, said: “We are well established in a niche market and we felt it was time to look at gentle diversification.

“A reasonable proportion of our partners are selling into the retail space, but we were not providing them with all the products they needed to offer a complete solution.”

Varlink has fostered ties with four new vendors to support the launch: Partner Tech, International Cash Drawers, Dixolon, and Wasp. The division is being spearheaded by two existing Varlink staff, but Pullon said he plans to recruit up to five additional heads over the next six months.

“The retail systems channel is not very clean, with manufacturers often acting as distributors or even cutting out resellers,” he added. “We will bring some clarity of purpose to it.”

Pullon said the distributor, which was founded in 2005, is on course to grow sales by 40 per cent to £7m for its financial year to August.

Tim Van den Branden, UK managing director of Partner Tech, said: “We have a lot of confidence that Varlink’s sales and marketing team have a good understanding of the EPoS market. It is exactly the type of distributor we want to work with so we can have a clean sales channel in the UK.”