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Interview for Channel
Middle East<\/EM> <\/A>magazine<\/STRONG><\/P>
Answers provided by Andrey Kostevich<\/EM>,
VP Sales for Russia and Belarus region, ASBIS<\/STRONG><\/P>
ASBIS distributes a wide range of computer components in the CIS from leading
global vendors such as Adaptec, Foxconn, Hitachi GST, Intel, Kingston,
LiteOn, NEC, Microsoft, Pioneer, Seagate, SuperMicro, Toshiba and others. It
acts as a one-stop-shop for our customers in the server, mobile and desktop PC
market segments. One of the most important advantages of ASBIS in the CIS is its
extensive presence across this vast region through ASBIS\u2019 own offices and a
network of dealers and partners, as well as extensive use of round-the-clock
online trading.<\/P>
In 2006 ASBIS implemented the use of factoring in Russia as an additional
financial tool in dealings with its customers, which has become our yet another
significant competitive advantage in this largest CIS market.<\/P>
Complexity and frequent changes in local regulations, especially in Russia,
are not making any distributor\u2019s life easier. The changes are not over yet, and
we need to follow them carefully. Until now we have been quite successful in
adjusting our business to new regulations. Once all the new rules become final
and are applied properly, the CIS market is going to become more
predictable.<\/P>
Another important factor is the huge interest towards the lucrative
Russian market, which lures a lot of foreign companies, resulting in fierce
competition. This has created a situation of increased price pressure and
shrinking profitability for Russian IT market players.<\/P>
The major challenge we are facing in Russia and other countries is their huge
market territory with different time zones, which leads to more complicated
logistics and remote work with partners mainly in online mode with rather rare
face-to-face business meetings.<\/P>
Among other products I would single out Seagate HDDs which for many years
retain the largest market share across the CIS due to industry leading quality
and highly professional regional sales team. We have also been observing growth
in Microsoft product sales, which can partly be explained by stricter government
policies on copyright protection.<\/P>
Some of our fastest growth is coming from Ukraine and Kazakhstan, which are
slowly becoming bigger markets, and of course Russia, by far our largest market,
where we have sales partners in all key regional centres.<\/P>
If we consider Russia, its market size for 2007 is
estimated at 7.25 mln desktop PCs, 175,000 servers and up to 100,000 mobile
PCs.<\/EM>
The growth forecast
for components distribution this year stands at 5-10 per cent. In the long run,
however, due to global commoditisation trend, this market is going to become
more constricted, and will eventually be filled up with A-brands.<\/P>
In view of this trend, last year we signed a distribution agreement for
Toshiba notebooks, and this year for the whole range of Dell products. We will
carry on analyzing the market and our partners\u2019 needs in order to carefully
select new vendors with the most interesting products and the most efficient
cooperation terms. <\/P>
In my opinion, the role and the number of
distributors in Russia are to decrease<\/EM>
. Only the strongest will be able to survive, while the rest will have
to merge or shift to other business areas. The reason for this is that more and
more vendors set up their representative offices in Russia, and some of them
begin working with the channel on their own.<\/P>
It may be very difficult if you are new to the market, but if you are an
established and reputable distributor with a positive track record of serious
and responsible market behaviour, you are fully capable of tackling any issues.
ASBIS works in the CIS through its local subsidiaries and an extensive network
of dealers. This approach ensures business stability and reliability. It\u2019s
impossible to deal with this huge market on your own. You need to have a network
of reliable channel partners which is being constantly improved through natural
selection process.<\/P>
Despite the common Soviet legacy, there are considerable
differences between various CIS markets. These differences are mostly due to
national mentality and traditions. Some markets in Central Asia are extremely
conservative and isolated, like those of Kyrgyzstan<\/EM> and
Tajikistan<\/EM>. On the other hand, there are booming economies in
Kazakhstan<\/EM> and Azerbaijan<\/EM>
which thrive on natural energy
resources.<\/P>
The Ukrainian IT market<\/EM> is also fairly big and
promising, despite the ongoing political volatility. The IT market of
Belarus<\/EM>
has seen some positive
transformations over the past few years, driven by formidable GDP growth. We are
also observing some attempts to improve Belarus\u2019 attractiveness for foreign
investments, including the considerable reduction of tax burden, which is
expected to take effect next year.
Interview for Channel
Middle East magazine
Answers provided by Andrey Kostevich,
VP Sales for Russia and Belarus region, ASBIS
1) What investments is ASBIS making in the CIS
region?
ASBIS distributes a wide range of computer components in the CIS from leading
global vendors such as Adaptec, Foxconn, Hitachi GST, Intel, Kingston,
LiteOn, NEC, Microsoft, Pioneer, Seagate,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press"],"yoast_head":"\n
1) What investments is ASBIS making in the CIS
region?<\/STRONG> <\/P>
Our priority this year and beyond is the ongoing development of the regions
and expansion of our product offering, so that we are able to effectively meet
the requirements of the growing computer market. To this end, our main
investment will focus on developing regional sales and knowledge building
through partner seminars, trainings and face-to-face meetings.<\/P>
2) What are the key issues to bear in mind when serving the
CIS?<\/STRONG><\/P>
3) What are the main challenges you face in serving the CIS
region?<\/STRONG><\/P>
4) Which products are the most popular and
why?<\/STRONG><\/P>
One of our biggest growing market
segments is lifestyle products, and this is why our own brands Prestigio <\/A>and Canyon <\/A>
have definitely
found their customer base in Russia and are continuing their expansion into the
regions and federal retail chains. These brands keep offering cutting-edge CE
and IT products to this changing market, such as Prestigio\u2019s digital media
centres, LCD PCs, portable media players, portable storage and Canyon\u2019s MP3
players and VoIP devices<\/EM>
, and I am certain that these brands are set to win a significant share
of the Russian market. <\/P>
5) What is the size of the CIS market and what kind of growth are
you seeing in this region?<\/STRONG><\/P>
6) How easy is it to get products into the CIS
markets?<\/STRONG><\/P>
7) What characteristics define the various CIS markets?<\/STRONG>
<\/P>
<\/P>
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"