CompuServe Thread

Transcript from Escom presentation … ———– Bernard van Tienen Head of Distribution Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, I'm delighted by today's announcement and confident of the significant benefits that it brings to customers of Commodore, to our employees, and, of course, to our new larger company. I'd like to talk to you about how we are going to distribute Commodore products, and by that I mean both Commodore Intel Pentium based computers and the Amiga Motorola based computers. Distribution will be centralized in The Netherlands, where Commodore is based. Commodore products will be distributed within Europe, whereas Amiga products will be worldwide distributed. However we are already in the process of recruiting distributors for the Amiga range and I'm sure we'll be able to give you more details on this at a later date. In Europe there will be three main channels of distribution. The first through retail via computer retail chains, brown goods chains, department stores, and mail order companies. The second through a limited number of key distributors, the number will of course depend on the country and type of distributor involved. And thirdly, for Amiga products only, through a range of specialists distributors targeting the vertical markets of high-end Amiga products. With our distribution in place, what cna our customer and our distributors expect form Commodore? Commodore's success will be based on three principles: price competitiveness, sales and marketing support, and service. When it comes to price, Commodore will benefit from the purchasing power of the Group. Commdore will offer its retailers and distributors a full range of sales and marketing support. Commodore will implement a Europe-wide training programme for distributors and sales staff, to promote a high level of technical and product knowledge that will equip them to deliver the best advice to customers. Good after-sales service is equally vital to Commodore's customers. As part of our philosophy to make things as easy as possible for them, we introduce a range of service options. In summary, ladies and gentlemen, we will provide clear channels of distribution for Commodore and with them an unrivalled package of price, support, and service. We will make a success of the still strong Commodore and Amiga brands ——— Bernard van Tienen is member of the executive board for Escom AG with the responsibility for worldwide purchasing, Escom UK, Scandinavia, Belgium, and The Netherlands. Before joing ESCOM Van Tienen founded a PC retail chain with 32 shops in The Netherlands, now part of the ESCOM Grup. Prior to this, Van Tienen was Vice President of Commodore International and Divisional Director of Oliveti. Following today's (30 May 1995) announcement, Van Tienen is also responsible for the distribution of Commodore and Amiga products. -sja