Retail-to-Business an untapped growth opportunity for retailers says CONTEXT

LONDON - Feb. 7, 2014 - PRLog -- The SMB channel is one of the fastest growing market segments in Europe today, and was up 20 per cent year-on-year in the UK across PC and tablet sales, offering retailers, distributors and resellers market-changing opportunities to grow their business, according to analyst firm CONTEXT.

This fast growing segment has rapidly expanded to service the needs of SOHO, micro and small businesses buying ICT hardware and services and retailers can address this by adopting a Retail-to-Business strategy, dubbed R2B.

It’s driven by small and micro businesses, which are making sizeable investments in cloud, mobile and peripheral technologies and services that enable them to become more agile and efficient and support new ways of working.

The average R2B customer is up to four times more profitable than consumers with less price sensitivity – buying higher end products and accessories – and has more interest in value-added services, offering  retailers and resellers alike new opportunities.

The SMB channel grew an impressive 19.9 per cent year-on-year in the UK, driven by tablets (66.2 per cent) and desktops (17 per cent).

In the desktop space, SMB resellers in the UK now represent 22.2 per cent of the market, up from 20.8 per cent in 2012 and many of the form factors would fit neatly into a retail portfolio.

Retailers have understandably been chasing all-in-one-desktops – a form factor which grew in retail by an impressive 77.6 per cent in 2013 in the UK.

However, in doing so they have missed out on the opportunity to push micro towers and small form factor desktops which could generate significant sales in the R2B segment, according to CONTEXT. Data from the analyst revealed retailers accounted for 12% per cent of sell through for micro towers (SMB resellers 37%) and 13 per cent of small form factor desktops in 2013 (SMB resellers 17%).

“Selling technology to SMB involves investment by retailers in service and broadening the product range”, added Adam Simon. “The net result will be to revive the store through innovation and to premiumise the retail offering. Retailers can really raise the ante on sales by working with vendors and distributors on new initiatives.”

CONTEXT is holding its first ever Retail-to-Business Summit (http://www.contextworld.com/en/retail-to-business-summit;...) in Monaco in February – an event designed to bring together Europe’s leading vendors, distributors and retailers to explore the business growth opportunities in the newly defined R2B market.

The event will take place at DISTREE EMEA on 11-12 February at the Fairmont Hotel in Monaco with Media Markt, Euronics, Maplin, Fnac, Darty, Carrefour, Amazon and Auchan among many big ICT retailers already signed up. It is announced that Régis Schultz, the CEO of Darty, will give the opening keynote speech at the summit.

About CONTEXT
Headquartered in London with over 140 staff in 12 countries, CONTEXT specialises in tracking technology sales and pricing across the globe. With real time data captured from a wide range of channel sources including exclusive access to Global Technology Distribution Council (GTDC) members, the US$3 billion of sales processed each week in Europe provides the most accurate channel market information available today across a range of business and consumer technology products. CONTEXT reports and services enable our customers to assess their business operations in the light of actual sell out figures, and make business critical decisions based on hard data. Follow us on Twitter: @contextworld.com or visit our website: www.contextworld.com

Media contacts
Funda Cizgenakad
Funda@contextworld.com
Tel: +44 7876 616 246