“The solid increase was generated by notebooks. On a portable PC market that advanced by 25% from 2010, Asesoft Distribution’s sales rose three times, from 18,000 units in 1H 2010 to over 55,000 in the same period of 2011,” Razvan Ziemba, general manager of Asesoft Distribution, told ZF.
The second growth engine was the development of the solutions portfolio and partnerships with system integrators. In 1H, 2011, the weight of sales to integrators doubled to 12% and is expected to reach 20% by yearend.
As for the retail segment, Asesoft Distribution’s boss says that the stores working with his company had rising orders. Ziemba says that the figures were also boosted by the first half being characterized by stability and a quite linear forex rate trend.
Ziemba believes this year may be better than 2010. “Should this period of relative stability continue, people are likely to spend earlier, and not just toward the end of December, as it happened in 2010. The situation will be more complicated on the corporate segment, though”.
Ziemba, who maintains the firm he runs retains its target of reaching EUR165 million in turnover, expects the market to grow further in the second half of this year. “In the second half of this year, we expect the IT distribution market to keep up growth by at least 10%”.
This year, Asesoft Distribution will start making deliveries to clients of Hungary and Bulgaria as well, targeting revenue of EUR4-5 million, Razvan Ziemba told ZF.
“We plan to tap these markets by keeping our centralized model, in which we have a single warehouse from which we deliver. (…) For expansion, we hired two people speaking Bulgarian and Hungarian and we modified the IT system so that we can issue invoices in leva and forints,” said Ziemba.
“We’re looking at other markets in the region as well. We hope we can achieve our objectives with Hungary and Bulgaria and tackle other markets in the region. If you want to expand, now’s the right time to do it”.
The distribution firm will move its warehouse of Republica area of Bucharest to the Europolis complex located near Bucharest-Pitesti highway this year. “Investments in the project stand at EUR1.5 million. (…) We expect the change to help us as it’s crucial for us to deliver on the same day,” stated Ziemba.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu; Editing by Radu Bostan)