NaTIONaL SUrVEY
monitors and printers, are falling rapidly. In terms of vendors HP, IBM and Acer consulting-orientated sales and the
have posted good years, while local favourite Fujitsu-Siemens Computers is blade business.”
having to work harder to retain its traditional dominance. Meanwhile Dell is There is no one in particular to
treading water in terms of marketshare, but the effects of its new channel blame for the rising price pressure
partner programme are yet to be felt. in Germany. Vendors are keen for
It’s been another tough year for PC assemblers in what used to be a very their products to be competitive
favourable market for the B- and C-brands. As reported in our news pages, in the SMB and consumer segment,
local vendor Lintec has given up the annual struggle for survival and filed for while market dynamics have been
bankruptcy. Maxdata has had another tough year as well, with annual revenues changed by the rise of successful
tumbling 11% year-on-year. One player which has enjoyed a reasonably e-tailers like Amazon.de and
IT Europa’s Channel personality of
successful 2007 is Medion. The assembler has backed away from its traditional notebooksbilliger.de, which can
the Year 2008, Ingram Micro Germany
alliances with food retailers like Aldi and reintroduced the IT channel to its easily undercut the prices offered
country manager Gerhard Schulz
sales agenda, and now sits firmly at number five in the Gartner PC shipment by traditional resellers. Furthermore, Germany is unique with the presence
rankings (see table page 25). of four vast broadline distributors clocking up €1bn-plus annual revenues and
However, even where the number of units being sold has increased one occupying over 80% of the entire market.
cannot presume that revenue has grown at the same rate. With its long- Ingram Micro, Actebis Peacock, Tech Data and ALSO (currently ranking in
standing culture for aggressive pricing, the German IT market is creating serious that order) scrap it out for every euro on offer in the market and this naturally
problems for itself. ALSO’s Michael Dressen remarks that, to see a 10% increase leads to dwindling prices. Actebis has been singled out for specific criticism
in turnover, you need to sell 20% more products. from its rivals for very aggressive pricing in the wake of its acquisition by
Ingram Micro boss Gerhard Schulz adds: “Notebooks are still growing
at double-digit rates but price points are collapsing. It’s down to the whole
industry. I just don’t see why, when someone in the third world will spend a
“It is more tactical than strategic - Arques has just
put two companies under one roof.”
tenth of their annual income on a computer, people in Germany aren’t willing
Avnet’s Gerd Hundt on the Actebis-NT plus merger
to spent €400!”
“Germany has always been price sensitive, with people looking for the best
price,” says Dorit Bode, head of SPO (Solutions Partner Organization) at HP private equity group Arques, which also owns broadliner COS Distribution.
Germany. “The market has been growing in numbers but not in value. Prices These accusations are strongly denied by Actebis Peacock managing director,
are coming down and the whole market is very sensitive. It has been an issue Bärbel Schmidt, who adds, “We need to earn money too.”
for years. Now in The acquisition of Actebis caused quite a stir in the German channel when
the PSG segment it was completed in July last year, and many speculated that Actebis might
there is a target be merged with COS. But Arques defied the logic of that potential marriage
to focus on up by instead buying German telecom distributor NT plus. The integration of
selling, as well Actebis and NT plus in the Actebis Group was confirmed at this year’s CeBIT
as the services fair and CEO Klaus Hellmich spoke to IT Europa of his high hopes for creating a
side. And there converged ICT distributor.
are new topics, Critics have other theories. Several of those we spoke to are adamant that
such as a move Arques - which specialises in buying struggling companies, giving them a shake-
aLSO Germany boss Michael Dressen
towards more up and selling on at a profit - intends to list Actebis on the stock exchange. So
18 apr 2008 23
It0807 - 22-25_GERMANY_SME.indd 23 2008-04-16 11:03
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