Distributors' expansion seems to have been built on expanding portfolios and ranges of products sold, as well as selling more to partners. The latest report Distributors, the Top 500 2015 by IT Europa finds that Europe's channels have grown after shrinking durng the crisis, but that consolidation has changed the top players' list.
500 companies are profiled, including: 14 parent companies, 135 subsidiaries, 335 independents, and 16 public companies (traded on stock exchanges). The total revenues for all companies in 2015 was $153.75 billion (€141.3 billion) with a total staff figure of 100,007. Overall, total revenues of all companies increased 7.25% in 2015 (based on 2014 revenues) compared to 2013 (when the report was last published). However, between the financial years of 2012 and 2014 that market decreased by 14.67%.
In the last year, the European market has seen many new products coming across the Atlantic as US companies look for growth opportunities, helped by the US dollar/Euro rate of exchange. Some distributors have signed up several new vendors each month, particularly in the security area.
More information on the report can be seen here.
This has enabled portfolio expansion, often with centralisation of costs leading to economies, but in the challenging new technology areas, distributors have also had to invest in staff and support, with some larger firms setting up specialist units. The distributor market is growing steadily across Europe despite quite a few of the smaller distributors going out of business, quite often, due to being acquired by larger parent companies. In general, Eastern European Distributors are doing well, with the exception of those in Slovakia. Conversely, a few of the Southern European countries such as Portugal and Cyprus are not, based upon the turnover change between 2013 and 2014.
The top ten companies by revenue are listed below. New entries in 2015 were Exertis Group, Westcoast Ltd and ASBIS Group. Distributors no longer in the Top 10 (but were in 2013 when the last report was published) were MERLION ZAO and Specialist Distribution Group (SDG) Ltd.
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Rank by Revenue
2015
1
Tech Data Europe
2
Ingram Micro Europe
3
ALSO Holding AG
4
Exertis Group
5
DCC Technology
6
Avnet Technology Solutions EMEA
7
Arrow Enterprise Computing Solutions (ECS) EMEA
8
Esprinet S.p.A.
9
Westcoast Ltd
10
ASBIS Group
In terms of distributors’ software offering, the most common type of software distributed was Network / Security / VPN Software (65.6%); followed by office software (52.4%); and storage software (26.8%).
The most common type of hardware distributed was Networking Hardware (72.2%); followed by PC Accessories & Consumables (68.8%); Printers & Scanners (62.4%); Enterprise Storage & Other Data Storage (62.2%); and PCs/Notebooks/Laptops/ Non-Windows PCs (58%).
In terms of the geographical markets, the top three countries in 2015 that were most widely covered were Germany (56 company profiles), United Kingdom (56) and France (50).
The geographical markets which experienced the most revenue growth between 2013-2014 were (in ascending order): Ukraine (21.29%), Turkey (20.92%), Hungary (19.92%), Ireland (17.5%), and Czech Republic (14.56%). Markets which experienced revenue decline were: Portugal (-5.27%), Cyprus (-8.98%), and Slovakia (-9.47%).
The volume of products across all software categories increased between 2013 and 2015. The top 5 category volume increases were in: Linux Software increased by 77.48%, followed by Console & PC Games/Education Software (64.22% increase), Internet/Server Software (54.26%), and Network / Security / VPN Software (50.61%).
Volume of products also increased in most hardware categories except Digital Cameras (-1.59%) and Motherboards (-6.45%). The top 5 hardware types which had increase in volume between 2013 and 2015 were: CPU (52.24%), Telecom/IT Cabling (27.69%), Printers & Scanners (26.6%), PCs, Notebooks, Laptops & Non-Windows PCs (25.17%) and Servers (24.72%).
A large proportion of distributors are selling third party products indirectly but those distributors who are selling their own branded products are equally distributing their products both directly and indirectly across the channel. Distributors who are selling through the channel indirectly, are primarily doing it through resellers, retailers and systems integrators.
If you would like to receive a sample, country breakdown or any further information on how to access the NEW Distributors in Europe - The Top 500 market intelligence database report, please contact:
Stephen Osborne
Stephen.Osborne@iteuropa.com
Tel:+44 (0) 1895 454 536