ICT infrastructure distributor Axiz predicts that about 30% of its revenue will, in future, come directly from its retail consumers, according to Axiz CMO Craig Brunsden.
While Axiz is sticking to its roots in the conventional IT infrastructure channel, it is increasingly also looking at taking its products straight to the end-user, albeit through retail outlets, Brunsden says.
"Axiz Retail has successfully launched and is now contributing 15% to Axiz sales." The company is the only memory manufacturer in Africa and its retail arm was launched in mid-2006, Brunsden says.
The company took 14 years to reach its first R1 billion in revenue, but only three years to reach the R2 billion mark. It hopes to reach R3 billion in revenue some time in 2008.
In the short to medium term, Brunsden says Axiz is looking towards the third quarter of this year to boost its market performance.
Last year, the company experienced 25% growth and is predicting a 20% growth rate for 2007, in light of large-scale infrastructure investments at the company.
According to Brunsden, a preliminary forecast of 5% growth in desktops and notebooks for 2007 is not cause for concern.
"The market is changing and we no longer see the same buying cycles for PCs, but rather activity associated with big industry launches, and changing consumer usage models like mobile PCs," says Brunsden.
He expects the market to respond well this quarter to "major launches" by vendors such as Intel and Microsoft.
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