p10-11 Outdoor Garmin:SGBGolf_NEW_template 27/07/2009 14:14 Page 11
Garmin
SM Group
Distributors are key to Garmin's success; we
spoke to Kevin Turner, Marketing Manager at
SMG about their relationships with retailers
and the way forward…
SGB: How does SM Group fit with Garmin; which of their
five 'specialities' do you cover?
Kevin Turner: SM Group distribute a broad range of
navigational electronic equipment split into four sectors.
We’ve got marine, outdoor, fitness and automotive.
SGB: How do SMG work with the retailer – do you
incentivise in any way, for example?
KT: We always try to help retailers, because we're dealing
with very technical product. We’re versatile, we’re flexible
and we also supply all of Garmin’s point of sale information
plus we have demonstration stock programmes as well
where dealers can buy a unit for 50% of the normal trade
price and tack a few units on to an order. But it means for a
very reasonable price they can actually have a demonstration
piece of equipment in their showroom. So dealers and
retailers do have the ability to be able to buy a unit at a very
reasonable price to keep for demonstration purposes and all
we ask them is that they keep it for demonstration for six
months, after which time they can change it, trade it round
and buy another piece of equipment.
Also, another facility we offer is, say a customer goes into
a shop and he wants to buy something from them but it’s
something which the dealer doesn’t have in stock, we can
do a direct dispatch service as well. We don’t deal with the
public direct but, to make it easier for the retailer, we can
send our products direct to their customer. Anything to
make life as easy as possible for those wanting to sell
product.
SGB: What are the strengths of SMG as a distributor?
KT: We’ve got five people on telephone sales, they can all
answer questions to a reasonable technical and informative
level. And then we have a technical sales manager for trickier
enquiries. We’ve also got a service department. But when
somebody phones up, they can talk to somebody, they can
have advice, they can say “Have you got it in stock? How
much is it? Can you get it to me tomorrow?” That might
sound pretty basic stuff, but I think when I look at a lot of
companies out there now, you might talk to somebody
about advice, somebody else about pricing and somebody
else to place an order. It’s just one point of contact to put
the entire process through.
Also, we hold a lot of stock. Our stockholding, just on
electronics, is probably something like £800,000 to
£1million. And we’re covering everything from main
equipment down to a whole host of accessories, not just for
Garmin but all the products that we distribute. Our aim is if
there’s a demand for it, we’ll have it in stock.
www.smgeurope.com
JULY 2009 SGB OUTDOOR 11
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