Ingram Micro Brings House Brand To CES

SANTA ANA, CALIF. — Ingram Micro is taking its V7 house brand global following 10 years of brand growth in Europe. The strategy, according to a company spokesperson, "is to leverage Ingram's relationships with state-of-the-art production facilities, as well as its global logistics and financials, to offer high-quality consumer electronics and IT products that feature top-tier features and performance at extremely attractive price points." The spokesperson said the company sees its brand as competition for "third- and second-tier vendors that can't offer the same value, financial stability or long-term customer support to retailers and resellers."

Upon its initial global launch, the V7 brand is expected to offer LCD monitors and TVs, personal navigation devices and computer accessories like cases, toner and notebook batteries.

Products started to launch at the end of 2007 and will continue to be unveiled into the new year. V7 products from a variety of categories will be on display this week at International CES in Las Vegas.

In other news, Ingram Micro recently added a new digital signage division to enable B to B solution providers to sell, service and support end-to-end digital signage solutions.

"Digital signage offers a wide variety of flexible and highly customized IT solutions for the communication needs of virtually any marketplace," said Kevin Prewett, vendor management VP, Ingram Micro U.S. "Business owners are searching for smarter and more efficient ways to brand, broadcast and communicate in real time with their employees, clients and consumers. Now, with digital signage technology, companies of all sizes can dramatically enhance communications and create new ways to streamline operations with tighter inventory management and controls."

Prewett will lead the new division, which is said to offer a team of marketing specialists, category specialists, vendor managers, technical support staff and cross-trained digital signage sales professionals.