Samsung in partner recruitment mode

Vendor ready to take more partners on board as it aims to smash 40 per cent growth targets

Samsung Electronics is gunning for market share across its hardware portfolio and is recruiting channel partners to maximise its impact.

Last month the vendor rejigged the account management structure of its UK and Ireland business, creating one centralised reseller account management team led by Mark Vatcher (pictured) – head of reseller partners – IT division.

Speaking to ChannelWeb, Vatcher said he was confident of smashing the vendor’s 40 per cent growth targets across multiple areas – print, large format and desktop display and notebooks – with the right mix of channel partners on board.

The Korean vendor recently grabbed the top spot in the smartphone market after almost quadrupling shipments and toppling leader Apple.

“We have refreshed a number of the technologies and products that we bring to market, and we are seeing real successes against our rivals, and we are also becoming more solutions focused, as opposed to mainly hardware,” he said.

In terms of Samsung’s channel programme, Vatcher said the vendor is very much in partner recruitment mode and is keen to offer potential new partners, as well as existing ones, a good deal.

“We offer rebate programmes, and a deal registration portal to give them the confidence to go after and register business earlier. We are 100-per-cent channel focused. We are not going to enter a sales cycle to go direct,” he said. “What we intend to do is focus on our strengths,” he added. “We want to engage with even more partners and ensure that we are on their radar.”

Distribution also plays a key role in Samsung’s channel plans, he said. The vendor works with a number of distribution partners in the UK – Micro-P, Westcoast, Midwich, C2000, SDG and Ingram Micro – plus a number of other specialist distributors.

“One of our key activities is talking to our distributors and identifying partners that they recommend we speak to. Distribution does a great job for us, and gets us in front of some of those partners that don’t engage with us at the moment,” he said