DISTRIBUTOR PROFILES: REALTIME DISTRIBUTION / CREATIVE REALTIME DISTRIBUTION 01480 410010
The UK-based distributor has invested in new staff and a new business approach to independent retailers. James Batchelor asks sales director Richard Marsden what the company hopes to achieve
What services do you offer?
Each customer at Realtime has a dedicated account manager, and from
there the service level really depends on the customer requirements. This ranges from customers who want to buy based on our competitive pricing, through to the full stock management solution where we pick, pack and ship orders on our customers’ behalf. Realtime believes that the key is supporting the customer, so if there is anything a customer needs, we have the flexibility to look at it.
How many members of staff do you employ? We have 23 at our head office in Huntingdon where sales, product management and accounts are based. Our group distribution centre
CREATIVE DISTRIBUTION
is in Warrington where there are another 100-plus staff.
What have you achieved over the past 18 months? We have added seven new positions to the team, and we have seen growth in our core market – PC components – when the overall market has seen decline. The increase in staff has enabled us to secure and develop contracts with customers that are now coming to fruition, and the next 12 months promise to be the most exciting yet.
What are your hopes and plans for the coming years? To continue growing profitably. You will see Realtime being a lot more active with independent game retailers over the next 18 to 24 months. We invested in both our staff and our portfolio to ensure we can make this area a success.
Operating out of Croydon, the firm has just achieved one of its highest turnovers to date. James Batchelor looks at how Creative will continue this growth
FOUNDED IN 2004, Creative Distribution is faring well for a company that is only within its first decade of business.
Despite facing heated
competition in a crowded sector, the company has already established an efficient warehouse operation in Croydon, a useful website for its clients and an enthusiastic staff of roughly 43 people.
The team has well over a decade of experience that has guided Creative from strength-to-strength. This has culminated in an impressive financial
accomplishment this summer. “In our last fiscal year ended June 2010, we achieved a turnover of £69 million – this was almost a doubling of our turnover from last year,” says MD Gareth Dain.
48 November 12th 2010
The distributor caters for a wide variety of retailers, from multiples to indies – although Dain confesses it’s an “absolute tragedy” that the latter has become a small fraction of Creative’s business. However, the company has countered this by investing in new areas – most notably, Creative published it first video game, Real Heroes: Firefighterfor Wii, back in September this year.
And that’s just the beginning. The distributor has just put the finishing touches on a partnership that could see this initiative become a more regular part of Creative’s operations. “We recently purchased another company in publishing and we will formally announce this soon. We also aim to diversify into other product categories and focus more on the Asian market,” says Dain. It is moves like this that showcase the impressive growth of Creative
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In our last fiscal year which ended June 2010, we achieved a turnover of £69 million.
Gareth Dain, Creative
Distribution across the globe – despite the rise of rival firms and digital distribution. Dain claims the biggest challenges Creative faces are “unprofessional distributors” new to the market, and those who entice clients with “crazy pricing and by overpromising on service”. “In a perfect world, only the legitimate, professional distributors would be involved in our industry,” he says. “From your Centresofts to your Ideals, distributors such as these have earned their right to be in the market. It’s a shame we have some unhealthy competition that has entered the sector in recent years.” Creative also says one possible solution to contending with digital distribution is to simply accept it. “This is how the market is going and we have to accept it – perhaps even embrace it,” Dain adds.
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Realtime will be a lot more active with independent retailers over the next 24 months. Richard Marsden, Realtime
Realtime carries brands such as Razer, Sennheiser and Venom, which should appeal to the indies. As a distributor you need to add value to the channel you’re working in. I think by taking the model that has worked so successfully for us in the PC market and applying it to the independents, we will see success. One of Realtime’s key principles is to ensure customers make money on the products we supply.
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