Denver — PRO Group is here at CEDIA Expo to meet with suppliers, see a host of new upscale products and discuss plans on how to cooperate with Brand Source’s Home Entertainment Source (HES).
Dave Workman, executive director of the PRO Group, addressed the alliance with HES in his group’s Wednesday night reception by saying the new agreement will build sales for independent CE retailers.
“We are looking for new solutions for our members and we feel the specialty channel is incredible” for CE suppliers to sell mid- to upscale goods.
He noted the combined sales of PRO Group and HES is $4 billion, but that “HES and PRO are separate groups but will collaborate in new ways … to make the independent channel profitable … nothing more, nothing less.”
Workman said that at PRO, the history of the group has “always been to look to new ways of doing business … and how to make business happen.”
He predicted that in the next few years, “there will be slower, selective growth, but there will be growth and we will get our share.”
And he added, “In a year or two from now, we will be at a party like this and some of our members will be larger, some of our members will be more profitable, but we will be here because PRO is in the forefront of selling mid- to upscale goods.”
In speaking with TWICE, Workman said that PRO’s sales are up 2 percent to 3 percent so far this year, “and we see more growth through the fall and the fourth quarter.” He added, “The revenue side will grow,” and that there always may be challenges for some on the profit side.
