Channel promotions player Consenna looks to reach more vendors

Digital transformation is affecting almost every aspect of business – and the way that vendors run promotions in the channel is also coming under pressure to change.

Vendors have been running promotions in the channel for decades in an attempt to get certain products sold and specific verticals targeted with campaigns. Campaigns can take months to plan and often run for weeks to give partners the chance to embrace the concept and build up their activity levels.

Channel promotions player Consenna, which works with a host of large vendors, has decided it is time to shake things up and has cut the ribbon on its Spark platform.

The idea is for the firm to provide a list of potential promotion offerings that vendors can choose from and then deliver in a couple of weeks after they have undergone a quote and build process. Options include increasing sales volume or average order value, attracting new customers, improving conversion or growing margins, as well as selecting from a range of target users. 

“Promotional activity in the channel is as old as the IT industry itself, but doing the same things in the same way only ever delivers the same results,” said Trevor Evans, managing director at Consenna. “It’s gone on for too long. We’re not prepared for that to continue.

“Consenna Spark breaks down any preconceived notion of promotions only being available to the largest IT vendors with limitless budgets and open-ended timeframes.  Disruption of this type changes the promotions landscape for ever.”

Evans said there were smaller vendors that wanted to run channel promotions but felt the tools were out of reach because of cost and complexity – and that situation needed to change.

“The IT channel is a rich and diverse community rarely seen as a level playing field,” he said. “That changes today.

“With Consenna Spark, we’re giving all IT vendors the power to achieve growth quickly. Our speed to market is going to disturb conventional thinking and set new benchmarks for ambitious, growth-centric businesses. No longer will promotions be viewed as a sales and marketing tool accessible to the largest brands with the biggest budgets.”

Consenna has worked with HP on SME trade-in programmes and with Microsoft on education promotions and last September revealed its ambition to break through the £10m revenue barrier.

Evans has been with the business since 2019 and has been looking to increase revenues since coming on board. Spark should give the firm the opportunity to expand its vendor base to cover more of the medium and smaller players looking to make a noise in the market.