Technology giant Samsung has moved a significant chunk of its display business from Tarsus Technologies to Axiz, changing its distribution model in the process.
Pierre Spies, CEO of Tarsus, confirms his business is losing out on about 3 000 units of Samsung's monitors and screens per month, as the South Korean giant moves to a three-distributor model, consisting of Tarsus, Axiz and Sahara.
"Samsung is effectively splitting the pie," says Spies. "The customer base of both [affected] distributors [Tarsus and Axiz] is very similar, so Samsung won't gain much."
Tarsus has reacted by bringing Samsung's competitor, LG, on board to fill the gap in revenue.
"It is a reactive strategy," Spies accedes, "but it has its opportunities."
Spies explains that Tarsus used to move between 12 000 and 15 000 units of Samsung's display products per month and has now lost out on about 3 000 units. It will, therefore, aim to sell about 3 000 LG units per month, although this contract still needs to be signed.
He maintains that, as LG is the number one brand in display products in SA, Tarsus is confident it will make up the difference.
Samsung's Dennis Brett, business manager for IT products, confirms the company is looking to make some changes, but says discussions are ongoing and an announcement is expected in the first week of May.
"We are looking to expand our distribution on monitors and we have been in talks with key distributors," says Brett. "We feel it is necessary to get greater coverage of our product to the reseller channel."
He adds that it is still too early to announce who the company's third distributor will be, although Axiz has landed the distribution deal for Samsung's hard drives and optical drives business.
In addition, Rectron announced today it has been awarded the Samsung printer distribution business, which includes consumables.
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