Seagate appoints CMS to bolster retail growth
Distributor will push pocket drives and internal disk drives to fill gap in vendor's market
Seagate has appointed CMS Peripherals as a retail distributor for the UK and Ireland.
Under the terms of the deal, CMS will become a Retail Authorised distributor to Seagate. It will be responsible for distributing a range of the vendor’s pocket drives and internal retail disk drives.
Seagate said CMS’s appointment was a key part of its distribution strategy to grow further in retail markets in the UK and Ireland.
Laura McGimpsey, UK and Ireland retail business development manager at Seagate, said: “Seagate will use CMS’s strong relationships with some of the biggest UK and Irish retailers to expand our user base. Our goal is to ensure that more customers have access to products.”
However, Edd Bateman, business unit manager for disks and components at rival retail distributor Ideal Hardware, said: “Seagate could be stronger in retail. But this move won’t be a threat to us because we are very strong in more than just the retail sector.”
Gerard Marlow, business development manager at Seagate distributor Hammer, said: “Retail growth for Seagate hasn’t been strong recently. It’s trying to prop up a flagging area [with this appointment]. It won’t have a massive effect on us though because we are focused on the OEM and industrial markets.”
Frinos Constantinou, retail sales director at CMS, said: “We hope that we can take Seagate forward in the retail market. Its retail distributors so far have been erratic. With our appointment this will become a much stronger area.”