Successful launch for DISTREE Latin America

Sept. 28, 2011 - PRLog -- SAO PAULO, PARIS, LONDON, DUBAI, and MOSCOW – The inaugural DISTREE Latin America took place earlier this month at the Sofitel Jequitimar Hotel in Sao Paulo State, Brazil. More than 300 delegates attended DISTREE Latin America 2011, including representatives from approximately 50 vendors looking to launch, build or manage channels within the region.

“It is always an exciting moment to launch a new DISTREE event in a dynamic market such as Latin America,” commented Farouk Hemraj, CEO at DISTREE Events. “DISTREE Latin America 2011 was a huge success and we wish to thank all of the participating vendors, distributors and retailers that attended the event. The planning is already underway for DISTREE Latin America 2012.”

During the three-day event, vendors held a series of pre-scheduled one-on-one meetings with distributors, retailers and e-tailers from dozens of countries in Latin America. Driven by demand from ICT & consumer electronics (CE) vendors for an efficient business development platform in this fast growing region, DISTREE Latin America brought together senior channel executives from dozens of countries in one place at one time.

Intel and Microsoft were Platinum Sponsors at DISTREE Latin America with Kaspersky and Port participating as Gold Sponsors and G Data as Silver Sponsor. Research house GfK was an official Event Partner alongside Brazilian distributor association Abradisti.

Tawfik Djafari, Regional Director for Latin America at DISTREE Events, commented: “More than 1,000 pre-scheduled one-on-one meetings took place between delegates during the event. DISTREE Latin America provided a powerful platform for vendors looking to launch, build or manage ICT & CE distribution and retail channels in the region.”

DISTREE Latin America also provided vendors with the opportunity to showcase their latest products during the ’60 Seconds to Convince’ awards programme. Elecom picked up the ‘Best Product Design’  and ‘Best Presentation’ awards for its foldable Bluetooth keyboard, with Kaspersky securing the ‘Best Product Innovation accolade for its Internet Security 2012 solution.

The ‘LatAm Channel Academy: 2011 Awards’ also took place in conjunction with DISTREE Latin America, with channel executives selecting their preferred vendors in 11 separate product categories through a live electronic voting process. This unique selection process gave deep insight into how vendors were perceived in the Latin American channel. The winners were:

PCs: International Retail Vendor of the Year – Lenovo (32%)
Digital Lifestyle: Retail Vendor of the Year – Apple (49%)
Accessories: Retail Vendor of the Year – Targus (32%)
Imaging: Retail Vendor of the Year – Canon (35%)
Storage: Retail Vendor of the Year – WD (43%)
Printing: Retail Vendor of the Year – HP (45%)
Home Networking: Retail Vendor of the Year – D-Link (27%)
Games: Retail Vendor of the Year – Microsoft (39%)
Software: Retail Vendor of the Year – Microsoft (46%)
Mobile: Retail Vendor of the Year – Blackberry (44%)
TVs: Retail Vendor of the Year – Samsung (44%)

“DISTREE Latin America demonstrated how important it is for vendors to engage closely with in-country partners from across the region,” continued Hemraj. “Business is built on personal relationships and we are here to help build a strong and effective channel community within Latin America uniting vendors, distributors and retailers.”

“This year’s attendees now understand that DISTREE Latin America is not a traditional trade show. Our unique event format is focused on getting the right people together in one place at one time to drive real business results,” he concluded.

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DISTREE Events is a communications company specialised in the planning, organisation, staging and management of channel-focused ICT & CE events.