{"id":91,"date":"2006-11-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-11-17T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.asbis.com\/news\/?p=91"},"modified":"2023-07-28T14:37:50","modified_gmt":"2023-07-28T14:37:50","slug":"it_europa_russian_market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/media\/it_europa_russian_market\/","title":{"rendered":"IT Europa<\/strong>:Russian channel fears threats to distribution"},"content":{"rendered":"

Russia has long been a distinctive IT market, with a limited presence of international distributors and PC vendors. Last time we visited the expansive nation, there was a sense that this could change, but while PC assemblers remain strong, the distribution channel faces a number of threats. IT Europa assesses how the market has developed in the last 12 months\u2026<\/STRONG> <\/P>

The distribution market in Russia continues to be dominated by local goliaths MERLION, Kvazar-Micro, Formoza and OLDI<\/STRONG>, the market\u2019s five largest distributors, the first of which has topped \u20ac1bn<\/STRONG> in estimated annual revenues. Other distributors include broadliner OCS and hardware rivals Rosco and Marvel, and regional components giants ELKO and ASBIS<\/STRONG> are also present, but the absence of Ingram Micro, Tech Data and Actebis stands out like a sore thumb on the landscape.<\/P>

Many questions have been raised as to why the broadliners are not present in a market with such vast potential. Answers range from the strength of the local firms that prevents a simple entry into the market by foreign rivals, to the size of successful local broadliners that prevents an affordable acquisition. Questions are always abundant in Russia, but replies are sometimes scarce – the lack of transparency, combined with suspicion, means that sadly many businesses simply will not comment on-the-record.<\/P>

The other issue that many overlook is corruption in the market, which, coupled with difficult import laws, wards off many foreign distributors. Last month, Ingram Micro\u2019s CEO, Greg Spierkel, told us the company is not in Russia \u2018because of businesses and the tax structure, particularly the playing of the system that happens around VAT\u2019. Many of the locals also claim to be doubtful that new distributors will enter the market. Roxana Yanborisova, vice president at OCS<\/EM>,<\/STRONG> says she expects \u2018nothing fundamental\u2019 in terms of such companies moving into the Russian market.<\/P>

The most notable changes in the distribution arena concern R&K and Millennium Distribution. The former, despite being a broadliner in our distribution table, is rumoured to have planned to leave the pure distribution arena, as predicted by commentators in our last Russian national survey. According to its website, its main work is PC assembly, though it could not be reached for comment. According to one source, the rumours have not yet upset the balance of the rest of the distributors in the market: \u2018It\u2019s creating a lot more space, but I really wouldn\u2019t say that any single disti will win a larger share than another of the pure distribution business that could be left in the open.\u2019 At the time of going to press, R&K had not responded to our calls.<\/P>

Another distributor, components specialist Millennium Distribution<\/STRONG> , which has a large presence across the region, is also rumoured to be planning to leave the hardware channel. But its website states it is \u2018one of the best IT distributors in the CIS\u2019, so the rumours seem a stretch. While the firm has not yet commented to us, a source at a rival nevertheless claims: \u2018The owner, who used to be a co-owner of R&K, is planning to get out of that area of business, because the return on investment is not so strong.\u2019 He says that the firm is not planning to sell up, though: \u2018In a mature market, it would be more normal to sell the business, but things just aren\u2019t transparent in Russia so generally few players take the risk of getting involved.\u2019<\/P>

A number of commentators claim that many other distributors are diversifying, or have become part of holding companies with many different activities. OCS is one such example, being part of the National Computer Corporation (NCC), which claims to be Russia\u2019s largest IT firm. NCC also owns distribution activity Landata, system builder Aquarius, software developer AND Project, and IT services and consultancy business Sistematica. While this model appears to be working for NCC, at least on revenue terms which are estimated at nearly \u20ac820m for 2005, a number of holding companies are said to be neglecting their distribution activities in favour of higher margin services.<\/P>

Andrey Kostevich, VP Russia and Belarus region at components wholesaler ASBIS<\/STRONG><\/EM> , is convinced the number of distributors in the market will decrease, as a result of the pressures. \u2018Only the strongest will be able to survive, while the rest will have to merge or shift to other business areas,\u2019 he believes. \u2018The reason for this is more vendors are setting up representative offices in Russia, and some of them have begun working with [resellers] on their own.\u2019<\/EM> <\/P> <\/BLOCKQUOTE>

Copyright: IT Europa (17 November 2006)
<\/EM><\/STRONG>www.iteuropa.com<\/EM><\/STRONG><\/A>
<\/EM><\/STRONG><\/P>

download as PDF View article as PDF file<\/A><\/P><\/STRONG> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Russia has long been a distinctive IT market, with a limited presence of international distributors and PC vendors. Last time we visited the expansive nation, there was a sense that this could change, but while PC assemblers remain strong, the distribution channel faces a number of threats. IT Europa assesses how the market has developed…<\/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":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media"],"yoast_head":"\nIT Europa:Russian channel fears threats to distribution - ASBIS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/media\/it_europa_russian_market\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"IT Europa:Russian channel fears threats to distribution - ASBIS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\" Russia has long been a distinctive IT market, with a limited presence of international distributors and PC vendors. Last time we visited the expansive nation, there was a sense that this could change, but while PC assemblers remain strong, the distribution channel faces a number of threats. IT Europa assesses how the market has developed...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/media\/it_europa_russian_market\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ASBIS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-11-17T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-28T14:37:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Administration\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Administration\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/media\/it_europa_russian_market\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/media\/it_europa_russian_market\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Administration\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/a9085ccc933f6ef29b2f1f80158ffaa1\"},\"headline\":\"IT Europa:Russian channel fears threats to distribution\",\"datePublished\":\"2006-11-17T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-28T14:37:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/media\/it_europa_russian_market\/\"},\"wordCount\":781,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"ASBIS in Media\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/media\/it_europa_russian_market\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/media\/it_europa_russian_market\/\",\"name\":\"IT Europa:Russian channel fears threats to distribution - ASBIS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2006-11-17T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-28T14:37:50+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/media\/it_europa_russian_market\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/media\/it_europa_russian_market\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/media\/it_europa_russian_market\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"IT Europa:Russian channel fears threats to distribution\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/\",\"name\":\"ASBIS\",\"description\":\"Newsroom\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"ASBIS\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Logo-Newsroom-2-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Logo-Newsroom-2-1.png\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":553,\"caption\":\"ASBIS\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/a9085ccc933f6ef29b2f1f80158ffaa1\",\"name\":\"Administration\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9aba4f29256577177162524a9ffb5fbbac77ce497b287dfdd4214500031eb9c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9aba4f29256577177162524a9ffb5fbbac77ce497b287dfdd4214500031eb9c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Administration\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.asbis.com\/news\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/author\/administration\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"IT Europa:Russian channel fears threats to distribution - ASBIS","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/media\/it_europa_russian_market\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"IT Europa:Russian channel fears threats to distribution - ASBIS","og_description":" Russia has long been a distinctive IT market, with a limited presence of international distributors and PC vendors. Last time we visited the expansive nation, there was a sense that this could change, but while PC assemblers remain strong, the distribution channel faces a number of threats. IT Europa assesses how the market has developed...","og_url":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/media\/it_europa_russian_market\/","og_site_name":"ASBIS","article_published_time":"2006-11-17T00:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-07-28T14:37:50+00:00","author":"Administration","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Administration","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/media\/it_europa_russian_market\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/media\/it_europa_russian_market\/"},"author":{"name":"Administration","@id":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/a9085ccc933f6ef29b2f1f80158ffaa1"},"headline":"IT Europa:Russian channel fears threats to distribution","datePublished":"2006-11-17T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-28T14:37:50+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/media\/it_europa_russian_market\/"},"wordCount":781,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/#organization"},"articleSection":["ASBIS in Media"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/media\/it_europa_russian_market\/","url":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/media\/it_europa_russian_market\/","name":"IT Europa:Russian channel fears threats to distribution - ASBIS","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2006-11-17T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-28T14:37:50+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/media\/it_europa_russian_market\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/media\/it_europa_russian_market\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/media\/it_europa_russian_market\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"IT Europa:Russian channel fears threats to distribution"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/","name":"ASBIS","description":"Newsroom","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/#organization","name":"ASBIS","url":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Logo-Newsroom-2-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Logo-Newsroom-2-1.png","width":2560,"height":553,"caption":"ASBIS"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/a9085ccc933f6ef29b2f1f80158ffaa1","name":"Administration","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9aba4f29256577177162524a9ffb5fbbac77ce497b287dfdd4214500031eb9c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9aba4f29256577177162524a9ffb5fbbac77ce497b287dfdd4214500031eb9c6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Administration"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.asbis.com\/news"],"url":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/author\/administration\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6970,"href":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91\/revisions\/6970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.asbis.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}