Press Releases
RS Components Shows Strong Improvement in Sales in the Asia Pacific Region in 2009
Value-added services and strong supplier relationships contribute to components distributor’s success during tough economic conditions
New Zealand, 26 November 2009 :
RS Components (RS), a leading international high-service distributor of electronic, electro-mechanical and industrial products sees the Asia Pacific region as the least affected market during the last 12 months of economic turbulence. While the company’s interim financial figures reflected the impact brought about by the financial crisis, the Asia Pacific region remains to be the top performing region for the company. Markets such as Taiwan and Thailand continue to demonstrate strong growth for RS.
RS currently serves 300,000 customers across the Asia Pacific region and despite the downturn, added about 3,000 to 4,000 customers each month this year. Key customers include Flextronics Manufacturing Singapore, Terasaki Electric, Sanmina Sci Systems Singapore, Maersk, Fugro Survey, Seadrill Management, Singapore Technologies Electronics, Abbott Manufacturing, ABB Industry, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Panasonic Electric, Schlumberger and Hitachi.
“The APAC region continues to be a big engine of growth for the company. We have already seen a double-digit percentage increase in our average order frequency in the last few months as compared to the same period last year,” said Richard Huxley, regional general manager, Asia Pacific, RS Components. “This growth in our order basket is indicative of the recent upswing in the electronics industry. And with our customer-base spread across different industries and verticals, this could also be seen as a representative sign that the initial signs of economic recovery is well on its way to gaining momentum.”
RS currently ships on average 65,000 parcels per month to customers across the region and continues to develop valued-added services to help them better manage their operations and at the same time drive incentives for their customers purchase online. With its own procurement software – e-Procurement and PurchasingManager 3.0 – RS helps customers streamline their purchasing processes and cut transaction costs for low value orders.
In addition to the company’s 350,000 products, RS had added another 21,000 more to its current portfolio in 2009. This year, RS launched 8,000 new products from Texas Instruments, making it the distributor with the largest stocked range of TI products, well over 11,000 in total. Recently, Agilent appointed RS as its distributor in the Asia Pacific region for its test and measurement products. This partnership was built upon the existing global agreement with the aim to support the growing demand in the region’s market. Similarly, the company also expanded its global distribution agreement with Tyco Electronics earlier this year, and inked global distribution deals with Traco, Molex, Osram, and Microchip.
“At RS Components, we have weathered the economic storm and we believe that we have come out of it, stronger,” said Huxley. “Working closely with our customers to identify more effective value-added services and cost-points that would aid them during the crisis has been a key factor in helping us ride through the tough economic climate. Moving into 2010, we expect the market to stabilize and resume growth in a more consistent manner. Our investment in electronics, e-commerce and also our own human resources has proven to be a success during these tough times and we will continue to do so in order to capitalize on the upward swing.”
About RS Components
A part of Electrocomponents plc, RS Components (RS) is one of the largest global catalogue and web-based distributors of electronic, electro-mechanical and industrial products.
Operating under the trading brands of RS Components, Radiospares, Radionics and Allied Electronics in the U.S., the Group serves nearly 1.6 million customers in over 80 countries worldwide. Through operations in 27 countries and 16 warehouses, RS distributes 450,000 products from over 2,500 suppliers.
The Group has an annual turnover of over £925 million and is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
For more information, please visit our market leading website at www.rs-components.com .
