Verbatim: “We want to compete with well-known accessories brands”

As Verbatim releases a new range of laptop bags, accessory product manager Simon Keighley tells us about the firm’s further expansion into the accessories market.

You’ve extended your offerings with a new range of Verbatim Bags. Are accessories something the company intends to focus more on rather than technology products?

We’ve carried bags for the past two years, but we’ve recently launched a range of Verbatim bags that are fantastic quality but at a lower price. Those products allow us to sell into many markets.

What other accessories will you be launching under the Verbatim brand?

We’ve had peripherals for a while but in the last six years we’ve developed a core range of peripherals such as mice, headphones and speakers.

This year we’ve launched accessories for the tablet market, specifically folios with Bluetooth keyboards.

We’ve launched products for iPad, Samsung Galaxy, iPhone 5 and 5S. As we go into next year we’ll have something for the iPad 5. We have a product ready to go as soon as the device is launched.

Are cases for tablets something you’ll be focussing on more?

Storage will always be important to us and we will continue to expand our range. With our accessories range we’re just trying to expand that into a growth market, and tablets are a growth market.

At the start of the year we launched a range of power packs, it’s been quite successful for us on a global basis. We will continue to expand that into next year. We want to compete with well-known brands in the accessories arena.

What else does Verbatim have planned for 2014?

We will be focussing on LED lighting in the future. It will be global. Long-term LED lighting will probably become our core business unit.

As we go into Q1 2014 you’ll see a lot of new products under the Verbatim brand.