Iqon develops product range and loyalty

Trade

Irish PC assembler Iqon has announced a loyalty programme for all existing and new resellers and has signed new deals which will broaden the company’s product range.

Under the new scheme, every time a reseller buys a PC, laptop or TFT screen from Iqon, they will earn points—called ‘bytes’—which can be redeemed for Philips consumer electronics products.

The Dundalk-based PC builder also plans to release more co-op marketing funds to the channel and is embarking on a number of lead generation generation activities.

‘We’re going to increase the volume of end-user marketing and really start putting more and more co-branded marketing for business and consumer end-users,’ said Iqon sales and marketing director Ciaran O’Donoghue.

Iqon intends to take a leaf from direct seller Dell’s book by issuing catalogues, brochures and spec sheets promoting its product range. This marketing material will list the names and contact details of a selected group of Iqon resellers from around the country.

The company has chosen 30 key dealers—12 in Dublin and the rest nationwide—that are appropriate for the small business and consumer market. ‘We have not necessarily gone with our large corporate dealers, so there wasn’t a huge amount of conflict when we put together our list,’ said O’Donoghue.

Iqon’s share of the Irish PC market is growing. The latest market research from industry watcher IDC has shown that it rose in the second and third quarters of this year. ‘We’re happy we’re growing at a time when the market is not growng to the same extent,’ he commented.

On the other hand, O’Donoghue admitted that Iqon’s increased profile has made the company more visible to its rivals as well as its customers. ‘We are very firmly on the radar of the big players which we wouldn’t have been a year ago. We have seen defensive and offensive moves by others to match what Iqon is doing,’ he claimed.

According to O’Donoghue, as Iqon’s production volumes increase, its relationships with component suppliers will improve. ‘We’ll be able to get more competitive pricing and better support,’ he said.

Iqon has finalised an OEM agreement with the notebook manufacturer Compal, gaining exclusive access to the supplier’s designs for a new range of business laptops.

The company has also done a deal with Asis to supply a PDA product, which it plans to launch in early November. Initially, this won’t be an Iqon-branded system, as the volumes in the Irish market don’t exist yet to justify demand, O’Donoghue said.

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