Julien Eichinger - stock.adobe.c
Distribution set for a solid year as growth continues through Q3
A market analysis of how distribution across Europe has fared in Q3 from Context indicates that it has all been good so far in 2018
This year is shaping up to be a solid period for distribution with the growth numbers for Q3 showing that the momentum of the first half has continued.
An analysis of how distribution has performed across Europe in the third quarter from Context showed that there was 7.1% year-on-year growth in Q3.
That growth can be added to the 5.4% delivered in Q2 and the 4.7% generated in the first quarter.
In the UK growth came in at above 5%, with strong demand for telecoms, data centre networking and servers helping the sales keep ticking over.
Some of the strongest territories included Southern Europe, with Italy, Spain and Portugal all delivering more than 10% growth in Q3. Finland and Norway were the only two countries that saw things dip in the third quarter.
“It’s good to see the channel building on its promising start to the year with only two countries failing to grow in Q3 and the majority of markets expanding faster than they did during the previous three months,” said Adam Simon, global managing director of Context.
“This news is compounded by the findings of our Q2 ChannelWatch survey which revealed that the majority (63%) of resellers are more optimistic about business in the next 12 months. Those distributors able to meet the changing demands of their partners and differentiate on value-added services and in new areas like the cloud, will also look to the future with optimism.”
Europe is not alone in being a strong market for distribution with the Global Technology Distribution Council revealing that in the US sales in the first seven months of the year were up by almost $2bn when compared to 2017.
Speaking at the industry group's conference in San Francisco in September, Tim Curran, GTDC CEO, said that the distribution sector today was different to the past.
“We’ve seen a poignant shift in how technology distributors are viewed and engaged today,” said Curran “Three decades ago, distributors were typically perceived as pick-pack-ship machines that also extended financing to VARs and other types of resellers.”
“Pricing, credit and on-time delivery remain critical, of course, yet by no means define what distributors and solution providers are all about in the digital era. It’s now about strategic problem solving that distributors, solution providers and vendor partners conduct together on all fronts," he added.
