There's both bad and good news for Panasonic following the appointment of Intermedia Computers as exclusive Queensland distributor of its OEM computer products.
That bad news is that Intermedia has uncovered large numbers of grey market Panasonic product. The good news is that Panasonic's share of the Queensland market is much larger than it suspected, according to Intermedia managing director Ray Shaw.
Helping to identify grey market units is the C-tick electromagnetic compatibility certification (see story page 3), said Shaw. All Panasonic models carry identifiers that specify the country in which it is C-tick certified for sale.
The identifiers show most grey market units in Queensland are being sourced from the US and Asia, Shaw said.
On the other hand, Intermedia's research indicates Panasonic's penetration of the Queensland market is as much as four times higher for some products than Panasonic estimated.
Sales slump estimated
For example, about 1200 floppy disk drives were being sold weekly, rather than the 400 units estimated by Panasonic, Shaw said.
Panasonic products distributed by Intermedia include the LS-120Mb floppy disk, and soon to be released OEM Zip drives plus CD-ROMs, CD Burners and monitors.
Intermedia
Tel (07) 3369 0477 Fax (07) 3369 1512
