Kondor soars in difficult market

Distributors have become conspicuous in the industry’s accident and emergency room during the past year, with several carted off to the operating theatre, and sometimes the morgue.

But a number of smaller handset and accessories distributors are triumphing, in relative terms, as the bigger organisations struggle for new direction and slicker operations in the face of local sector consolidation and the global economic crisis.

Kondor, dubbed the ‘new Dextra’ by some watchers, appears to be one such player – until now a marginal accessories distributor in the UK dealer channel, it is suddenly taking large corporate accounts from bigger rivals. The Carphone Warehouse, Tesco, Argos and Halfords are on its books, and it has just bagged a supply deal with Toys R Us as well.

Kondor managing director Rob Haycock (pictured left, with new business director Simon Hassell) is philosophical: “Some of our peers within distribution are not in such a good shape at the moment. Some are laying off staff. The market is very challenging.

“We’ve got new people in the business and the people we recruit are important, because they service the customers and our customers expect the best.”

“Really, until about a year ago, we didn’t have the resources to bring in new customers. But then we invested in a decent business development team, which has brought on some fantastic new wins.”

Full article in Mobile News issue 425 (October 20, 2008).

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