Tech Data’s summer campaign ended with a 115 percent regional sales growth in the second quarter compared to the same period last year. Among markets outside the UAE, Jordan was the highest performer with the reseller channel generating 115 percent increase in sales this summer compared to the same period last year. Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia followed with 61 percent, 36 percent and 16 percent sales growth respectively.
In May 2003, Tech Data joined hands with key global technology vendors including Cisco Systems, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft and others to drive a massive regional marketing campaign aimed at beating the summer sales slump.
“Market trend analysis shows that in the summer, technology sales in the Middle East region drop by an average of 18 percent across the board,” Eliot Shepherd, marketing director, Tech Data explained.
“Our aim with the ‘Around the World in 60 Days’ marketing campaign was to cut that down by driving demand in the market. The results were outstanding, thanks to the active involvement of our vendors and the superb response from the channel.” The combined sales of analogue and digital modems achieved a 143 percent growth compared to the same quarter of 2002, followed by storage devices, which grew by 82 percent; personal computers and processors grew by 50 and 77 percent respectively.
During Around the World in 60 Days, the highest performing resellers won a variety of valuable prizes, awarded on a weekly and monthly basis. The grand prize, an around the world ticket voucher, was won by Dubai-based Grandsys Computers & Electronics.
“Customized campaigns to overcome the various cyclical drops in sales is exactly what we need to see from the rest of the distributors in this region,” said Ramli Sulaiman, Grandsys Computers & Electronics.
Arab News Compunet 26 August 2003