Toshiba Gulf hosts inaugural Channel event in Qatar

The event, attended by over 80 channel industry members and media, took place at the W Hotel in Doha.

Santosh Varghese, Regional General Manager, Toshiba Gulf Computer Systems said: "It is an honour to host Toshiba's first Qatar channel event. We are delighted our channel members have joined us to celebrate our successful past 12 months with PC Dealnet and recognise their effort and dedication in growing the Toshiba business in Qatar."

Toshiba appointed PC Dealnet as the official distributor for Toshiba Personal Computers, Options and Accessories in mid 2009 and has since seen extremely positive signs of the impact of the partnership. Toshiba believes that by being closer to the channel, they are in turn closer to the customer, therefore, during mid-late 2009, Toshiba moved from a single channel distribution to multi-channel, ensuring channel breadth is increased to cover various segments of the market such as power retail, retail, and dealer channel. Based on this, Toshiba has successfully implemented a solid infrastructure for distribution to cater to the various B2C and B2B segments and now aims to work closely with Value Added Resellers (VAR) to focus on the booming corporate business and education sector.

Fady Azar, General Manager PC Dealnet Qatar said:

"In nearly 12 months of partnership we have successfully increased Toshiba's market share in Qatar by 10%. This is due to consumers reacting positively to the diverse range Toshiba has to offer both for products and accessories and our competitive promotions. In continuation of this thriving partnership, our focus is now on extending our market coverage and targeting new segments on a corporate level plus providing a rigid after sales service that offers unique and high quality repairs tailored for the Qatari market."

Over the coming months, new sets of standard will also be implemented for Toshiba after sales service and warranty, included in these programs are immediate replacement, limited repair time, on-site overhauls and many other added value services, bespoke to the local customers.

Forward looking, Toshiba and PC Dealnet will be working closely together throughout 2010 to strengthen channel engagement by implementing channel health programs to review sales staff training, rebates and value add with Toshiba options portfolio and marketing support.

In the first quarter of 2010, Toshiba launched its successful 'Profit for Performance' (P4P) rebate programme to channel partners in Qatar that recognises the commitment of key retailers and dealers, and rewards high performers. The P4P has been centered on empowering the channel through manageable target, product planning, monitoring of inventory and recognising the right product mix and proper account management to advance the channels' profitability. Regional VARs will also gain training on Toshiba's P4P as well as its business-to-business product portfolio and rewards for sales staff and product support will also include Built to Order (BTO) to cater to the larger accounts needs for hardware and software specifications.

Toshiba is witnessing several demands and trends for the PC industry in Qatar with high demands in the netbook segment, with 30% of sales being netbooks, compared to the GCC average of 22%. Toshiba is also noticing consumer demand for more high end products, with the new Toshiba Qosmio selling impressively. Businesses, on the other hand, are looking for wide display laptops of 14 inches or above. Overall, business will be driven by Government investment in socio infrastructure, especially the education sector with its new renowned universities. In addition the telecom space with adoption of 3G will also drive more demand for 3G based notebooks.