ACT has announced the successful conclusion of a preferred-supplier agreement with Office National Africa, a newly established group of independently owned office supplies outlets located throughout SA.
In terms of the agreement, the Office National group will represent and stock a core range of ACT consumables throughout its outlets. In essence, this move places the most complete and comprehensive range of consumables for printers, multifunctional devices and optical storage units at the immediate disposal of SMEs and small corporates across all major locations in SA.
Says Gary Pickford, sales director for ACT: "The fact that the Office National group is taking on our core product range is great news for the South African market. It marks the convergence of a myriad of focused resellers across the country, with the main objective of securing more favourable pricing and service through their combined buying power. Through this initiative, Office National will be able to provide a cohesive approach to brand awareness while still maintaining the core competencies that exist in each outlet.
"This is the exact business model the Office National brand adopted with huge success in the Australian market and ACT has no doubt the same success will be achieved in SA," Pickford continues.
The Office National group utilises a combined sales model, namely the physical presences in all major business centres, along with a host of e-purchasing tools, which will be available shortly. These tools are facilitated through both an online and CD-based catalogue, giving customers the ability to retain the same buying habits and take advantage of the superior pricing and service offered by the Office National infrastructure.
"Our business model is also unique from the perspective that it aims to replicate the core competencies built up by certain of our suppliers across the entire group," comments Ryan Bidgood, CEO of Office National Africa.
"As such, we expect customers to start benefiting from having access to a full-range of office supplies and not simply stationery."
"It`s plausible that in the coming months, SMEs and small corporates will be able to buy competitively priced computer hardware and software, office furniture and other essentials using the relationships they`re established with the outlet in their locale," Bidgood opines.
Lastly, Pickford says ACT is extremely excited about the benefits the establishment of Office National will bring to the small independently owned resellers that have become part of the group.
"As a local distributor, it is our duty to seek out and support all efforts under way to effect transformation and empowerment in the South African market," Pickford adds.
"We see Office National`s business model as a vital contributor towards creating success and a transformed SME reseller channel, something that will almost certainly empower these resellers to constantly challenge themselves and ultimately, create a sustainable existence," he concludes.
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Advanced Channel Technologies (Pty) Ltd (ACT) is a focused supplier of high quality IT consumables and printers.
The company`s products and value-added services support cost-effective print management, risk management in the data storage arena, and quality output to all media formats, including speciality papers.
ACT is committed to the delivery of world-class products and services to a national network of premier business partners and resellers who address the entire potential market for IT consumables in SA and neighbouring states in the SADC region.
The company operates as a fully-authorised supplier of a comprehensive range of high quality products that are manufactured by the world`s premier brand name vendors.
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