Beating out Lexel and Gen-i, Dick Smith took home the ‘Reseller of the Year’ award at this year’s Microsoft   Partner Awards. Dick Smith’s business is primarily retail, but this year’s awards were expanded to include  partners in the entertainment and devices division in addition to the commercial side of Microsoft, so any Microsoft partner could be nominated.

 Entrants nominated themselves and a panel of judges worked with partners to examine the four main criteria: year-on-year growth, market share growth, how companies partner, and the partner’s commitment and  investment in the relationship.

According to Brent Colbert, the Business Marketing Director at Microsoft, Dick Smith “stood out head and  shoulders” above the other entrants with 40% year-on-year growth and a market share increase on Microsoft  Office of 4%, as well as a number of successful campaigns.

Colbert said: “So they stood out on all four criteria quite clearly as we went through and judged them.”

Lexel and Gen-i, the two other finalists, delivered growth, however, Dick Smith grew significantly in all  categories, and although its business is primarily retail, Colbert said Microsoft didn’t view it as being different to a more traditional reseller.

Colbert said one of the campaigns that drove a lot of Dick Smith’s growth was its mailer, sent out every  fortnight. The mailer went out more than 26 million times throughout the year and Microsoft or Xbox was often  featured on the front page, which had a big impact on growth.

 A high standard was present in the reseller category, with four nominations this year, although Colbert’s goal  is to increase nominations in order to strategically grow and have a bigger presence at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Awards.

“My plan is to make sure that we increase the number of entries each year, and increase the quality each year,  and therefore we’ll be able to win at a worldwide level in the future,” he said.