Datrontech climbs on the own brand wagon

Restructured distributor brings A brands and generics under one banner with launch of product range under Dtech label

Datrontech Group has launched its own brand of products in a move to expand its range to cater for the demands of price-conscious assemblers and resellers entering into the small and medium enterprise market.

As predicted by PC Dealer (25 June), the distributor will introduce its own monitors, modems, keyboards, networking and multimedia products, memory and notebooks. The range will be supplied under the Dtech label.

According to Datrontech Group MD Mark Mulford, the distributor will use ?its close ties with the Far East? to source the products.

The announcement comes in the wake of a massive company restructure after it issued a profit warning in May, followed by the loss of 25 members of staff last month. The distributor said it believed it was time to expand its range so that Vars and assemblers can obtain A brand and generic stock from one source.

Datrontech chairman Steve King told PC Dealer: ?We are successful with our A brands but price-conscious customers will now be able to obtain A brands and Taiwanese from one source.? He said that introducing the Dtech brand to the existing product range would bring in a lot of independence and much healthier margins for the distributor.

Despite a foray into the systems business with the introduction of notebooks to its inventory, and in addition to the company?s interests in the components market, King insisted the own brand line was not a significantly new move. ?We have been building systems and solutions for just under a year, since last October.? He added that Datrontech had no plans to move into desktop distribution or change the company name to match the Dtech brand.

Datrontech has moved its headquarters to Chineham in Basingstoke, incorporating operations from Aldershot, Guildford and Alton as part of the restructuring programme. It intends to launch other branded products over the next quarter.

Heath brought in to fill sales director position

Alison Heath, who resigned recently as sales director at CHS Electronics, has resurfaced in the same post with rival distributor Datrontech.

She will take over sales responsibilities from George Evans, Datrontech?s product marketing director, who has been overseeing sales in addition to his other responsibilities to the group.

Talking to PC Dealer, Heath claimed the move was ?purely amicable? and said she needed to ?pursue a different set of challenges?.

?After the nine-month period following the sale of Merisel to CHS, I felt my job was completed and needed a new challenge. ?I spoke to Gary Boon [MD of CHS UK] a few weeks ago, saying I?d had many offers and would like to leave, and he was OK about it.?

Heath left CHS on 27 June with ?several different offers of employment? but the ?challenge of working with a specialist distributor? such as Datrontech finally swayed her decision.

Mark Mulford, MD of Datrontech Group, said it was ?great to have someone with her degree of professionalism on our team?.

Heath left Compaq in December 1995 to join Merisel as sales director.