San Diego, Calif. — Hitachi America’s home electronics division recently gave additional details on its exclusive U.S. distribution agreements with regional distributors CineLight, Autco, Fagan and Electrograph.
Hitachi said the agreements, previously announced in April (please see Hitachi for details) gives the four distributors sole United States distribution rights for Hitachi’s consumer electronics products — including CRT and LCD rear-projection television, plasma televisions and DVD products.
“The organizations named as exclusive Hitachi distributors are the best in the business and will better equip us to meet the changing sales dynamics of the market,” said Rick Stans, Hitachi sales’ senior VP. “We are extremely confident that these partnerships will provide us with a more strategic alignment to both audio/video specialty distributors and CEDIA members.”
Each distributor has exclusive rights to a designated geographic region.
Electrograph will serve eastern states including Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, West Virginia, Virginia, Washington, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
Autco will handle southern states including Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
Fagan will serve northern states including Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota.
CineLight will serve Western states including California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico.
Autco was started in 1970. It is a diversified Midwestern sales company. Main offices are in St. Louis. Autco has sales representatives and offices in Kansas City, Mo.; Springfield, Ill.; Wichita, Kan.; and Omaha, Neb.
Autco has specialized sales divisions for consumer electronics (home and car) products; St. Louis homebuilder services (one-stop shop); new car dealer automotive expediter services; and institutional sales. Their divisions are individually staffed and managed for the needs of the dealers and customers in each field.
CineLight is a leading edge, value-added distributor for plasma monitors, LCD flat-panel televisions, LCD/DLP home theater projectors and other advanced display technology products and accessories selling to home theater designers/resellers.
The company has established distribution agreements with leading manufacturers, including Hitachi, JVC, Pioneer, Zenith, Philips and InFocus. The company sells exclusively to authorized resellers concentrating on solidifying their network of “residential systems integrator” companies who specialize in the design and installation of custom home theaters and home media networks. CineLight can be contacted through its Web site at www.CineLightCorp.com or by calling 866-246-3544.
Electrograph Systems was founded in 1983 as a national value-added wholesale distributor of display solutions. It claims to be the largest wholesale distributor of plasma display monitors in the United States. The distributor offers a broad selection of display products for U.S. retailers, dealers, resellers and system integrators and other international market sectors.
Key products include LCD flat panel TVs and PC monitors, CRT and plasma display monitors, portable and fixed installation projectors, DVD players, LCD front projectors, touch screen monitors, custom integrated solutions and factory authorized service and repair.
Electrograph also manufacturers a line of LCD flat panel, CRT and plasma display monitors. The company’s headquarters are in Hauppauge, N.Y. with branch offices throughout the U.S. It can be contacted at (800) 776-5768 or through the Electrograph Web site at www.electraph.com.
Fagan, which was originally founded in 1911, now specializes in distribution of high performance products including audio, video, television, HDTV, home theater furniture and audio/video accessories as well as appliances. Fagan serves a broad range of regionally located dealers, including appliance, hardware and department stores, builders, mass merchants, car audio specialists, regional chains and audio/video retailers.
Headquartered in New Berlin, Wis. with additional facilities in Crystal, Minn., Fagan emphasizes constant product training and outside dealer events to promote sell-through and build on its long-term supplier partnerships, many of which run 30 years or more.
