HP appoints Exeed to compete with Tech Pacific

5.00pm - Bt RICHARD WOOD

Hewlett-Packard has appointed a second distributor, Exeed New Zealand, to compete with Tech Pacific - the sole player since December when Renaissance withdrew from distributing HP, Compaq, Microsoft and Toshiba products.

The newcomer is a joint venture between ex-HP New Zealand employee Andrew Bain and Australian distributor Exeed Global. The company opens in Auckland and Christchurch on May 27 with six staff, including ex-Renaissance staffer Simon Nicol.

Exeed Global managing director and majority shareholder Michael Bosnar said the target turnover for the first year in New Zealand is $12-15 million. Turnover for Australia in its first eight months has been $A6 million.

Bosnar said the company would focus on the small to medium enterprise market where it has had success in Australia. He says Exceed won't be going all out against Tech Pacific but will work with resellers to compete with the likes of Dell.

HP commercial channels manager Justin Tye said the merger between Compaq and HP has not been taken into account in the decision to appoint Exeed.

Exeed surprised the Australian market when it launched last year as a distributor focused entirely on the Hewlett-Packard product line and outsourcing its logistics and warehousing. Typically distributors have a range of brands and do their own warehousing.

Tye said in New Zealand Exceed it would be distributing almost the complete range of HP product except printer consumables, whereas in Australia distribution restricted to just the HP commercial product range.

Ingram Micro was another distributor considered for the role, as it distributes HP product in Australia. Tye said HP decided that would be similar to the head-to-head situation that existed between Tech Pacific and Renaissance.

The key need he said was to provide choice for resellers with different distributor offerings for credit, product, price, services, and account management.