Specialty Distributors Save Software Retailers Big Bucks; SoftWare Market Price Survey Reveals Specialty Distributors Beat ``Big 3'' Distributors' Prices by 22 Percent.Business Editors PASADENA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 7, 2000 A survey conducted by SoftWare Market(TM) has revealed that when buying small quantities of popular software titles, retailers and other value-added resellers A value-added reseller (VAR) is a company that adds some feature(s) to an existing product(s), then resells it (usually to end-users) as an integrated product or complete "turn-key" solution. (VARs) can save as much as 43 percent utilizing specialty distributors. The survey compared the wholesale software prices of the "Big 3" distributors with those of specialty distributors, confirming that buying from smaller retailers -- like those accessible at www.SWMarket.com -- can save time and money. The survey, conducted in mid-August Noun 1. mid-August - the middle part of August period, period of time, time period - an amount of time; "a time period of 30 years"; "hastened the period of time of his recovery"; "Picasso's blue period" , compared prices of the 10 titles on PC Data's latest list of top-selling software (July July: see month. , 2000). The lowest price for small-quantity orders from the Big 3 distributors -- Ingram Micro Ingram Micro, Inc. NYSE: IM a Fortune 100 company founded in 1979 and based in Santa Ana, California. It is the world’s largest technology distributor and a leading technology sales, marketing and logistics company. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :IM), Tech Data (Nasdaq:TECD TECD Training Equipment Change Directive ) and Merisel (Nasdaq:MSEL MSEL Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory MSEL Milton S. Eisenhower Library (Johns Hopkins University) MSEL Master Scenario Events List MSEL Master of Studies in Environmental Law ) -- was compared with the lowest price available from the top specialty software An umbrella term for software that is designed for a specific application or niche. What is specialty software one day can become a mainstream application the next. See special. distributors. The chart below reflects the survey's results, which show software retailers that purchase from specialty distributors save an average of 22 percent. The full text of the study is available at http://www.SWMarket.com/press/pricestudy.pdf. "The survey proves that, particularly for small-quantity wholesale orders, specialty distributors are significantly less expensive than the big distributors," said Dean Wallraff, chief executive officer of SoftWare Market, an Internet marketplace See vertical portal and Web hub. for wholesale software. Wallraff stressed that the savings are even more dramatic for older and less-popular titles. "Once a piece of software has been out for a while, large retailers will turn to specialty distributors to get rid of their overstock o·ver·stock tr.v. o·ver·stocked, o·ver·stock·ing, o·ver·stocks To stock more of (something) than necessary or desirable. n. An excessive supply. Verb 1. . Specialty distributors will take these extras off their hands and sell them at a rate far below the original wholesale price." When asked why smaller distributors have better prices than the large players, Wallraff responded, "There are several reasons. Sometimes they get better deals from the publisher. Sometimes they buy overstock from a middleman mid·dle·man n. 1. A trader who buys from producers and sells to retailers or consumers. 2. An intermediary; a go-between. or broker. And sometimes they're selling grey-market product -- legitimate software intended for sale in another country. "Software retailers and VARs can benefit from specialty distributors' savvy buying practices. The easiest way to find these deals is through SoftWare Market since most of these distributors are our clients. We combine their catalogs, providing software resellers one-stop shopping with tremendous prices savings and a huge selection." Launched in early August, SoftWare Market is a business-to-business Web service for wholesale software -- connecting publishers, distributors and resellers in order to facilitate the exchange of wholesale software information and reduce process costs.
TITLE BEST BEST SPECIALTY SPECIALTY
"BIG-3" SPECIALTY DISTRIBUTOR DISTRIBUTOR
PRICE DISTRIBUTOR NAME PRICE
PRICE SAVINGS
Diablo II $55.00 $31.50 Most Significant Bits 43%
The Sims $40.50 $32.00 Most Significant Bits 21%
Norton
Antivirus
2000, V6.0 $36.91 $23.00 Global Impact Inc. 38%
Who Wants
To Be A
Millionaire,
2nd ed. $16.63 $16.11 Navarre 3%
Roller Coaster
Tycoon $25.02 $22.50 MPS, American Software & 10%
Hardware
Windows 98
Upgrade,
2nd ed. $92.28 $75.00 CompuData Innovation Inc. 19%
Expedia
Streets/Trip
Planner $32.38 $30.00 Most Significant Bits 7%
VirusScan 5.0 $23.90 NA NA NA
StarCraft $17.86 $15.00 Most Significant Bits 16%
Icewind Dale $47.89 $30.00 Most Significant Bits 37%
Average Price Savings 22%
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