C2000 launches consumer electronics push

Distribution giant's latest division set to supply consumer products including TVs and small domestic appliances

Computer 2000 (C2000) is busy recruiting dedicated staff for its recently launched Consumer Electronics division as it looks to forge ahead in new markets.

The firm stressed repeatedly that it was not a ‘generalist’ distributor at its annual Vendor Partner Summit in London yesterday, insisting on the term ‘a collection of specialists’.

Its latest division will help the firm grab a slice of the consumer electronics space in products such as TV’s, Hi-Fi’s, accessories and even small domestic appliances.

C2000 cited a successful relationship with Philips [supplying TVs] as an example of the coverage it hopes to emulate across multiple product lines.

Andy Gass, managing director of C2000 UK and Ireland, said: “The consumer electronics team will be 18 people strong and we are actively recruiting within the retail and consumer electronics sector.

IT and consumer sales are something that we need to be involved in, with the top five or six vendors going from consumers to the enterprise today.”

Drilling deeper into the reasons why the distribution giant was so keen to distance itself from the broadliner term, Gass said: “We do an awful lot of things and the term seems very shallow. For our business to get the best results, it comes from us driving fewer things deeper and better into the market.

“If you have a line-card of 10-20,000 products you can quickly become a ‘me too’ company, and that doesn’t allow us to achieve operational excellence or do the business justice, which is no good for us, our shareholders or our customers,” he said.

In his keynote, Gass said the firm has invested in its internal systems and its supply chain services and would also play a part in the continued consolidation in the distribution space.