‘Revitalised’ Renaissance Moving Forward

If you’re thinking Renaissance is ‘dead and buried’ think again. At least that’s the message from David Liu, Renaissance business manager, peripherals, who says the distributor is instead ‘revitalised’."There’s a perception that we’re dead and buried, but we’re still here, we’re growing and we have new ideas to engage with the market and to take us back to glory days,” he says.Liu, who joined Renaissance four months ago, says his division will be introducing an expanded product offering over the coming months, with new vendors coming on board. "We’re looking at Apple attached brands not seen in New Zealand before, but which have very good traction globally. "We have some new exciting brands which we are in discussions about and can’t wait to share with the reseller channel [once deals are finalised].”The company has been rationalising its brands in recent months. "We’ve gone from about 80 to 20-30,” Liu says. "It’s about getting focussed for the vendors and making sure we do a good job. With the smaller numbers we can do a great job, rather than just a good job.”He says growth in revenue is also being seen and resellers ‘are coming back to us’. "We’ve got Warwick [Grey, newly appointed as general manager] on board, and we’re engaging with the resellers and there’s a lot more trust coming back,” Liu says."It’s been a very positive four months since I have been at Renaissance, with great positive feedback from resellers on Renaissance.”‘REALLY GROWING’Liu, whose division handles Apple accessories including the Cygnett, Logic3, Belkin and DLO Philips brands, says the company is ‘really growing Logic3’, previously only available via The Warehouse, which offers ‘a great opportunity for resellers’.The company also handles a range of brands, including Wacom, Fuji Xerox, iHome and Elgato, which connect to Apple devices.Liu says the ‘total separation’ of Renaissance’s direct and reseller businesses ensures there is no preferential treatment, or pricing, for Renaissance’s YooBee direct business. "They’re treated like any other customer. The two companies are really very separate. We have the same chief executive, that’s really the only thing we have in common.”Last month the company unveiled its new logo and general manager Warwick Grey expressed confidence the distribution business was back on the right track. Grey says there are a number of positive initiatives underway and the new logo reflects that.The company has also recently employed Merritt Anderson to head up its Insite assembly business and Zac Webb as a procurement specialist for Insite desktops.Adds Liu: "We’ve turned a corner and are going in an upwards direction. We’re in a growth stage.”