Christmas is just a few days away, and retailers are certainly feeling a chill in the air this year, with predictions of mass price slashing about to hit the high streets as a last ditch attempt to attract shoppers feeling the pinch of the icy economic climate. The pre-Christmas sales are set to bring ‘unprecedented’ levels of price cuts, according to industry experts.
One major brand feeling particularly frosty this season is HMV. Simon Fox, chief executive of the entertainment retailer, had previously been optimistic in his predictions on sales figures for the Christmas period; citing the ‘X Factor effect’ as a potential boost to sales. However this years’ winners have failed to shift records, with the least sales since 2004’s winner – although Fox blames this on their performance rather than the market in general. HMV has just announced that its live music venues are up for sale, in an attempt to rescue the ailing company, which has recently seen music sales fall by 20pc in six months.
Luckily it’s not all doom and gloom on the high street – grocery sales are far from vegetating, with supermarkets predicted to take 35 billion this week as shoppers stock up on festive fayre. This is a marked increase on last year’s figures, and will complete a Christmas three-week trading period up to 24 December; forecast to be worth around £9.2 billion.
We hope your business is thriving this Christmas period. Here at Maxatec we’d like to wish all of our valued customers a very merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year. The news round up will be back in January with a post Christmas review of the retail sector.
UK, December 2011:- Maxa Technologies, (Maxatec) specialist distributor of IT hardware, software and services to the Mobile, AIDC and EPOS market sectors has signed a UK distributor agreement with Hoeft & Wessel for the distribution of skeye handhelds. This agreement signifies an important development in Maxatec’s strategy for developing its distribution business in the UK market. The Hoeft & Wessel portfolio with the Skeye brand expands Maxatec’s current range of rugged handhelds.
Hoeft & Wessel’s primary focus is on quality and innovation, expertise and reliability offering a wide range of products for the wholesale & retail and logistics sectors. The quality, German designed and engineered products include the skeye.dart, a robust top-of-the-line PDA, the skeye.e-motion, a rugged IP54 rated tablet and the skeye.pos, a versatile mobile or stationary POS terminal.
Hoeft & Wessel is focusing on extending its international business activities for its mobile solutions and has implemented a global channel programme to differentiate partnerships. The Skeye channel programme consists of Value Added Distributor status along with Platinum, Gold and Silver partnerships and has been designed to provide partners with greater support, training and protection in the very dynamic and competitive mobile computing market.
Paul Carrington, UK Sales Manager for Hoeft & Wessel’s Skeye products said: “It is our company objective to aggressively grow our share of the UK market. Maxatec offers the perfect partner for us to reach further into this key market, with a strong understanding of the mobile arena, as well as an excellent reputation for service and support. Maxatec is not only proactive when it comes to sales and marketing, but consistently exceeds expectations with its level of technical expertise and support.”
Maxatec will be distributing the full Hoeft & Wessel mobile product portfolio which, in addition to the products mentioned earlier, includes the skeye.integral mobile rugged handheld device, the skeye.allegro, a flexible rugged mobile device with IP65 rating, and the skeye.pad, a high performance tablet for a wide range of applications in the field service and logistics sectors.
Andrea Percival, director at Maxatec said: “The agreement to distribute Hoeft & Wessel skye handheld products in the UK really complements our existing portfolio. The Skeye brand and differentiated range of terminals from Hoeft & Wessel, make them exactly the type of supply partner we try to work with. The objective is clearly to develop the channel and increase sales, and we are delighted that Skeye have selected Maxatec as their distribution partner. We will be working closely with Paul Carrington to develop the reseller base and develop specific market areas, at the same time driving leads and sales back into the channel. We work very closely with all of our supply partners and our differentiation is not to take on a plethora of overlapping products and cloud the picture for our resellers. Our products are all high quality, high performance and competitively priced – and the Skeye brand and rugged handheld product portfolio is a perfect match for us.”
About Maxatec
Maxatec is an ISO 9001:2008 certified Value Added Supplier of Specialist IT Hardware, Software and Services to the Mobile, AIDC and EPOS market sectors. Maxatec supplies CognitiveTPG receipt and barcode printers, TSC barcode printers, Bluebird Pidion mobile computing devices, Smart Terminals mobile computing devices, NCR POS terminals, Longshine POS terminals, Datamax-O’Neil mobile receipt and label printers, as well as a range of barcode scanners, touchscreen monitors, other peripheral devices, and own-branded products. Maxatec also offers software, professional services, and a wide range of media, spare parts and in-house and on-site service capabilities. The Maxatec brand is synonymous with high standards of service as well as high performance, high quality products, now to include skeye handhelds and mobile rugged handhelds. (www.maxatec-europe.com)
About Hoeft & Wessel
Hoeft & Wessel is the leading IT and engineering technology Group for ticketing, parking and mobile solutions in Germany and Great Britain. Established in 1978 by the two entrepreneurs who gave the company its name, the enterprise has developed into a group of companies with sales revenues of nearly EUR 100 million and a workforce of 500 employees. Its main locations are Hannover, Germany, and Swindon, UK, to the west of London. According to the EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard, Hoeft & Wessel ranks amongst the top companies in Europe. As one of Europe’s largest manufacturers, Hoeft & Wessel provides with its Skeye brand a wide range of mobile terminals and rugged handhelds, e.g. for retail, logistics, field services, hospitality, as well as point-of-sale solutions. Hoeft & Wessel is the market leader in Germany’s retail sector.
For more information contact
Andrea Percival
Maxa Technologies
Andrea.percival@maxatec-europe.com
+44 (0) 161 942 7850
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