Electrical Review talks to Rod Slater of Exertis
Q: Can you tell me a little about the history of Exertis?
A: The company was originally called Micro Peripherals Ltd. ‘Firsts’ in our history, include being the first UK company to design and manufacture hard disk systems for the Sinclair Spectrum, BBC Micro and legendary Sinclair QL, to the first digital camera sale with the Sony Mavica.
Today, Exertis is one of the leading distributors of consumer, IT, communication, home entertainment, smart home and data centre products in the UK. Exertis is a wholly owned subsidiary of our publicly listed parent company, DCC PLC. We currently represent over 200 manufacturers in the UK alone, spanning more than 22,000 plus products.
Q: What makes up the largest part of your business?
A: We are in a constant state of evolution and organic growth as our manufacturing partners respond to changing market demands and conditions, but the main areas right now are computing, mobile, networking power quality and displays. Expect exciting developments in the smart home, smart health, smart HVAC and wearables sectors, too.
Q: What relationship does Exertis have with more traditional wholesalers, do they see the company as a threat?
A: We’ve been trading in this market for quite a long time and have long-term relationships with many key electrical wholesale partners. Our role is to advise, support and supply. Many manufacturers in the UK don’t consider the electrical channel as a route to market, with little understanding of this channel’s needs and no resource dedicated to supporting this channel. That’s where we step in.
With our manufacturing partner relationships, we bring all of the project bid support, public sector discounts and special offers into the wholesale channel, in the same way we do with the IT channel. Through our relationships with our manufacturing partners, we work closely with them to develop their sales and channel strategies, along with advising what qualifications are required for a reseller or wholesale partner to sell certain product types.
For the wholesale channel our computing, networking, PRO AV and smart home expertise is backed up by our own engineers. They are available for customers should they need an experienced resource to aid a site survey, quote, close a sale and ultimately, deliver and install the goods. This same expertise is available from our VAD Solutions and our Security Specialist teams.
Q: What differentiates you from a wholesaler?
A: We don’t have any branches, we know very few wholesaler’s customers, but we are shipping to their customers every day. We do not sell to them direct. Their customers purchase through the channels that we are already dealing with. This tells us that the products we distribute are being purchased by Wholesale’s traditional customers: contractors, installers and engineers. This is why we are keen to engage; there’s a channel and market for our products, but the wholesalers are currently being bypassed.
Q: What areas do you see Exertis moving in to in the future?
For our core IT market, it’s around the development of service models (Site Survey, installations and maintenance) for our power quality lifecycle approach, AC wireless and 10GIG networking solutions. The high power and data requirements of AC access points requires a more detailed approach to network design, to ensure cost-effective implementation of AC wireless in a business environment. This, in turn, drives the upgrade from Cat5 to Cat6 in the cabling estate, and a complete overhaul of core and edge switching to support the increased data throughput and power requirements.
For the retail/wholesale channels, it’s smart home automation, smart HVAC, smart thermostats, smart security systems, access control and of course, the home wireless network. In conjunction with our manufacturer partners at Nest, Belkin, British Gas Hive, LightwaveRF, LIFX, Yeelight, NAIM, Samsung and LG Electronics, we have channel strategies supporting the wholesale channel.
Q: Which companies do you work with in the power protection/UPS market, and do you see any particular trends emerging?
A: Our key manufacturer partners in power quality are APC by Schneider Electric, Eaton, Emerson Network Power, Tripp Lite and Zigor. Our dedicated team of 22 office-based account managers assist with APC designs and products, and we provide site survey and installation support. We wrap a number of services around our power quality offering including site survey, delivery, position and installations as well as offering maintenance and service and a lifecycle management service, too.
