MERLION Business Channel in Ekaterinburg

The fifth regional MERLION Business Channel forum for the Urals IT companies took place in Ekaterinburg.

Aleksey Sonk, President of MERLIONThe Forum brought together a hundred and twenty six representatives for seventy companies from twenty cities of the Urals federal district including Ekaterinburg, Kamensk-Uralsky, Kopeisk, Krasnoufimsk, Kurgan, Nevjansk, Nevteyugansk, Nizhny Tagil, Noyabr’sk, Nyagan’, Magnitogorsk, Miass, Ozyersk, Chelyabinsk, Tyumen’, Surgut, Khanty-Mansiysk and others.

The gathering was supported by such world’s leading companies as Hewlett-Packard, POWERCOM, Sony and Western Digital. There were also some new products introduced in the forum by IPPON, Jetbalance and Oklick.

The MBC forum in Ekaterinburg aimed to foster cooperation with present and potential partners in the Urals, make personal contacts to get efficiency and boost business in the region.

Aleksey Sonk, President of MERLION, informed the Urals partners of the nowadays situation in the Russian and world’s IT markets, major trends and long-term development strategies in computer business; these included collaborative efforts with market leaders, a tight focus on a particular product range and a boost to the service provision sector.

Mr. Petrov, CEO of MERLIONMr. Petrov, CEO of MERLION, reported on the company’s goals and strategies for the upcoming year. He emphasized some key changes in the company. These are the introduction of a new division into 8 regional offices and a shared product and logistics space. “A common product and logistics space will enable us to quickly response to a lot of logistics issues, as well as offer our partners far more diversified warehouses,” - said Mr. Petrov.

Mr. Zhuravlev, Director of MERLIONThe MBC forum in Ekaterinburg welcomed new Marketing Director of MERLION, Mr. Zhuravlev. In his presentation he told about the nowadays situation in the Russian retail market. “There is a great growth of  the biggest Russian retailers today. What’s more, some key Western competitors are penetrating regional markets. So, joining big market competitors is a far-reaching business development strategy for partners.”

Hewlett-Packard, POWERCOM, Sony and Western Digital representatives spoke about support opportunities for two level partners. They also presented their new interesting products to the forum attendees before the start of the high selling season in Russia.

As part of the forum, there were also some presentations made by the MERLION officers responsible for Laptop, Digital Photo and Video product categories. They outlined the market situation and named key market competitors in these segments.

Mr. Schukin, Sales Director of MERLION System Solutions department, responsible for business with corporate clients, told the partners about partnership opportunities in corporate business.

Most participants believe the presentation of Alexander Malinin, Partnership Manager for Western Digital to have been one of the highlights of the first day.

Vladimir Ovchinnikov, Commercial Director of the Urals Sales Office, remarkedThe format of the forum included a lot of one-on-one meetings in an informal setting where participants could discuss some burning issues, share their ideas and experience as well as explore further partnership prospects. Soon after the formal part of the forum was up, everybody could enjoy a show with music and dancing performances, amusing quizzes and games and a firework display.

In his closing speech, Vladimir Ovchinnikov, Commercial Director of the Urals Sales Office, remarked: “The new format of the forum brought us closer together, strengthened the relations between the team of MERLION and its Urals partners. We could learn about MERLION development focus and strategy for the upcoming year. Many attendees could meet personally the team of the Urals Regional Office responsible for business growth and success in the region”.

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