Tarsus Technologies has announced the establishment of its retail business unit, expressly aimed at supplying world-leading products and solutions to computer, mass and specialist consumer electronics retailers.
The establishment of this division comes off the back of Tarsus`s commitment to provide for SME and consumer-oriented customers in the South African market.
Says Martin Venter, Tarsus retail business unit manager: "Tarsus has eased itself into the retail sector, setting up key agreements with the leading retailers in the local market and has therefore approached those retailers that have complementary business models to ours as a starting point. From here we plan to substantially increase our reach."
That said, however, in the short time the division has been running it has managed to garner the business of some 30 retailers, with a total of 150 stores across the country.
"We`ve had an awesome response to the range of notebooks, desktop PCs, printers, scanners, MFPs, projectors and monitors in the Tarsus portfolio, with brands like Acer, HP, IBM, Lenovo, Samsung and the new Peak brand of accessories like Flash Memory starting to gain good mindshare," he says.
Venter explains that although much of Tarsus`s traditional product portfolio is now destined for the retail sector, the consumer market is a very different animal to the traditional technology reseller space that Tarsus is used to.
"The retail market is extremely price-sensitive and relies on access to the latest and greatest in every brand`s set of offerings. Retailers also treat their ordering in a much more scientific manner," he says, "gauging demand based on historic performance and careful predictions of the changes new technologies and solutions will effect in the market.
"While the margins are often much lower," he admits, "we feel there`s substantial growth opportunities for Tarsus in the retail market."
Tarsus is so optimistic that its retail division will reap great returns on investment, that it`s bringing the extremely popular Pavilion range of HP notebooks to the South African market.
"Internationally, HP has experienced success with its Pavilion range of retail-focused notebooks. We`ve opted to bring this range to the local market, hoping the South African market can derive as much benefit from it as the international market has," Venter explains.
"The Pavilion range is a real powerhouse of value," says Jason McMillan, HP product manager at Tarsus.
"With a 15.4-inch WXGA form factor, Intel Core Duo processor and a choice of memory, storage, optical storage, graphics and connectivity options, value for money and performance are the two key focal points of the Pavilion range.
"Customers get a great deal of additional value, such as a multimedia card reader, lightscribe technology embedded on the optical drive and a high-end Altec Lansing speaker system as standard features. That`s not to say that performance is at all neglected - with Core Duo processors and the option of a dedicated graphics card the Pavilion can hold its own with some of the best in the market."
The one major difference in product strategy with the Pavilion range is that Tarsus will be responsible for the end-user support and repairs infrastructure on all Pavilion units it sells through the retail channel.
"As such, this represents a massive investment for us," McMillan continues. "We`ve put a dedicated technical team in place to service this need and guarantee that customers will experience the same level of world-class service from our Pavilion technical centre as they`ve experienced in every other aspect of Tarsus`s business."
Ultimately, Venter says Tarsus has big plans for its retail division. "We aim to take it from strength to strength over the coming year and put that `Tarsus touch` on our operations here.
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With 21 years of experience in the ICT industry, Tarsus is the leading value-added distributor in South Africa, specialising in the supply of the world`s foremost PC and peripheral hardware brands to the local reseller channel.
Tarsus strives to meet the channel`s needs for credit funding, stock availability and efficient logistics, ensuring that resellers are able to deliver the highest quality service to their customers, focus on support and compiling the best overall solutions for their end-user customer base at the lowest possible cost.
The company prides itself on its flexibility, adaptability, knowledge, skills and successful track record combined with an industry-leading ability to manage large rollouts. These are the reasons Tarsus has consistently been rated as the top distributor in the country by international vendors, resellers and the IT media alike.
With its strong commitment to the South African channel, Tarsus is able to not only make the reseller channel more efficient, but more importantly, it plays a vital role in dramatically reducing the costs of doing business in the local ICT market.
Brands represented by the Tarsus stable include industry leaders like Acer, Cisco, HP, IBM, Lenovo, Oki, Samsung, TallyGenicom, Targus and Wyse Technology.
More information about Tarsus is available at http://www.tarsus.co.za.
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