Vars hit by lack of product knowledge

Hardware vendors' failure to tune their sales models with market demand has been compounded by the channel's inability to provide appropriate information to potential customers.

InterX recently carried out research into the issues behind below-par results from manufacturers and found that the channel was not being given product information required to help customers make their purchasing decisions.

The research, which involved approaching unnamed mail-order resellers, corporate and specialist Vars, as well as a 'very large superstore' to purchase a mobile computing package, found that many were wholly inadequate in their attempts to make the sales.

This led to the conclusion that 'rather than an inability of manufacturers to predict demand, it is the inadequate availability and provision of information that is the root cause of the problem'.

But when speaking to PC Dealer last week, James Wickes, chief executive of InterX, conceded that better training from manufacturers could provide a better framework for providing product data rather than just sales and marketing.

InterX, through its subsidiary IT Network, will relaunch itself on 28 June by providing a free product information service to users.