PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
DSGi has sensationally laid down the gauntlet to its partners, with the retailer’s head of international buying for software, PCs and consoles Dave Johnson (pictured) exclusively telling PC Retail that if they don’t share the same gameplan, then there is no place on its shelves for their products.
Johnson explained that it was the natural evolution of the retail group’s focus on its multi-channel and international operations and that had led to it issuing the ultimatum to its vendor partners.
"What we’re now saying to the partners we deal with is that if they are not willing to work with us and our multi-channel strategy on an international basis, then we will remove all of their products from our stores," Johnson revealed.
When asked to what extent he meant removing products, he explained: "That means that any partner that doesn’t want to work with us on an international basis, not only in our stores, but also online and our other channels, will have their products removed from across the company – we just won’t stock them any more. It’s about supplying our customers with the best value proposition that we can.
"If one of our partners doesn’t share the same ethos to selling as us, then it doesn’t serve our customer’s best interests to continue stocking its products – it’s already happened with Intuit and I don’t doubt for one second there won’t others. It’s a strategic decision because of the nature of the company and our limited resources in the sense of time."
"The partners we want are those who can, and want to, work with us on an international and multi-channel platform," added Johnson. "We currently have over 1,500 stores across 14 different countries globally so it is the natural evolution of our strategy, especially when you consider 42 per cent of our sales come from outside the UK."
