Distributors Should Choose Vendors With Caution

When it comes to signing up with vendors, partners noted that distributors
believe in the philosophy of 'the more is always merrier'. But when service
issues come to the fore, same distributors are quick to pass the onus squarely
on the vendors. This was the crux of the debate at the IT Panchayat held in Pune,
which was attended by around 120 odd partners.

Shital Nahar, President, Computer and Media Dealers Association (CMDA), Pune
voiced the grievances of the channel community. The distributors were
represented by Kiran Morgaonkar of Ingram Micro India, Bhupesh Tank of Savex
Computers, Suhindra Yakkundi of Neoteric Infomatique and Christoper of Redington
India.

Channel partners alleged that distributors promise all sort of help and
support while selling the product. But when it comes to post-sales servicing of
the product, they shy away and pass the onus to vendors. This was especially the
issue with DoA cases.

Offering a solution to this, Ghanshayam from Benchmark Solutions suggested
that the distributor should not debit the payments that the partner has made on
those products for which DoA complaints had been raised or should keep buffer
stock for over the counter replacement. But most distributors present there said
that they had to abide by vendor policies for such instances and it was not
possible for them to withhold payment for the DoA products.

When this debate turned into a heated argument, moderator of the event Vinita
Bhatia, Executive Editor, DQ Channels intervened and urged distributors to play
a proactive role to find a solution, as a sub-distributor or reseller finds it
tough to chase a vendor for the same.

Similarly, the definition of lifetime warranty offered on Transcend USB
drives was also debated extensively. Kishore Motwani of Indika Enterprises
enquired, “If the product has life- time warranty than why do distributors ask
for its serial number, which might get erased after a period of time? Why the
serial number is required when a product has lifetime warranty ?”

The replies from distributors were satisfactory for the present partners, but
Christopher noted that his own company had taken this issue up very seriously
with the vendor and was hoping for a quick resolution about the same.

Another hot issue was that of post-sale service offered by vendors who do not
have a direct presence in the country. In most instances of this nature, the
distributor also doubles up as a service partner. “But what happens when the
distributor and vendor tie-up ceases? Resellers are helpless when the bond is
broken after some time. At that point, distributors refuse to take the
responsibility while the vendor can't be reached,” pointed out Jayant Laskare of
Konark Mirco Computers. Tank and Yakkundi acknowledged that this could be a
problem but these were strategic decisions taken by the management team of the
distribution house as well as vendor companies.

At this point, several partners in the audience asked distributors to keep in
mind the long-term issues while entering into alliances with them.

The issue of physical damage of product and short shipment was also raised at
the Panchayat. Currently in case of short shipments, the partners had to inform
the distributor about the same, who then informed the vendor and after a
turnaround time of several weeks, the com-ponent is sent back to the partner.

This is where partners like Rajesh Chaudhari of Asterix Computers suggested
that distributors can shorten the entire process if they just accept photos or
videos clicked by partners, post it online and get the same resolved quicker.

The sponsor presentations were made by Anil Gupta of Microworld Technologies,
Sushil Shivane of Hitachi Global Systems and Parag Bujone of Sify.

AKHILESH SHUKLA

(akhileshs@cybermedia.co.in)