New look Ingram EMEA
It seems that Ingram has taken this opportunity to completely overhaul its logistics policy and risk a backlash from a double hit to its customers’ overheads in order to correct what it views as an imbalance in the way things are currently set up.
So we asked if this move is part of the overall shake-up of Ingram’s European operations, apparently initiated by Forbes, who has been in place since the start of this year.
“In my seven months in this current role I have been terribly impressed with the organisation, but I think we can gain a lot from the sharing of certain best practices. This is the reason for the restructuring of our EMEA operation.
“So, for example, we have grouped France and the Nordics together so that the Nordics can capitalise on the best practices of the French operation as the Nordic region goes through a period of consolidation.”
Ingram now subdivides Europe into four units: Southwest, Central and Eastern, France and the Nordics and the UK. We asked why the UK gets left all by itself.
“We have retained the UK as a region to itself as the market here is different and not necessarily a logical extension from other regions, explained Forbes. “We probably saw the economic downturn first in the UK and it continues to be the most profoundly affected in Europe. However, I’m delighted to be sitting here with a clean balance sheet.”
Speaking to HEXUS.channel last month, Ingram CEO Greg Spierkel (pictured) said he thinks European distribution is too fragmented, i.e. too many players. We asked Forbes what he thought of that. “When you’ve got players like Tech Data and ourselves only having a quarter of the market, that does say it’s fragmented. I think there will be a shake-up and organisations like ourselves that bring strength and depth are well positioned.”
Forbes concluded by hinting that Ingram will be at the forefront of that shake-up. “We have a very aggressive programme of change planned,” he said.
So, according to Forbes, it’s time for the rest of the channel to step up to the plate and shoulder its share of the burden for making the channel as lean and efficient as possible. What do you think, does he have a point or should distribution, which counts logistics as one of its value-adds, carry the full cost of shipping products? Let us know in the HEXUS.community.
