'We want to do with Comet what we have done with Misco'

Reseller relaunches Comet brand today

Misco has revived the Comet brand, bringing back a household name that has been dormant since the original business went bust in 2012.

UK Computer Group bought the naming rights to both Misco and Comet last year, and has since rebranded to Misco. Comet will be trading name of Misco.

"We originally relaunched Misco which took up a large amount of our time, but then when COVID hit we had to put a lot of resource back into Misco because a lot of B2B customers were after laptops, which is why there's been a slight delay," director Adam Muir told CRN.

"We've spent a lot of time building a website that is now as customer focused as we possibly can make it at this moment in time, and then we've worked with our partners to get as many brands on there for the go-live."

The Comet website is now live, with a range of products across IT, consumer tech and white goods.

Muir said that this is something of a soft launch, with more suppliers set to be added over the coming months.

Head of marketing Russell Dickinson said that the first year of trading under the Misco name has been a success, with sales hitting £40m and a number of ex-Misco employees returning to the fold.

"We couldn't have asked for any better, to be honest," he said.

"We've had a lot of loyal customers come back to us who were with us for years before with the old Misco, so I'm sure the Comet brand will bring a lot of nostalgia to people and hopefully we'll see the same uplift as we did with Misco."

Muir added that Comet will operate in a slightly different way than Misco behind the scenes.

"The difference is automation," he said. "Comet is a lot more automated than Misco, to the point of ordesr being sent direct to all our distribution partners via EDI. We don't have that with Misco, so a lot of it is streamlined with Comet."