| Down Under – Corporate Express snaps up TEC IT and office supplies chain, Corporate Express, has continued its aggressive expansion push, adding another regional reseller to its lineup. Its latest acquisition is Hobart-based Tasmanian Office Equipment (TEC).
As with Corporate Express’ string of recent acquisitions, TEC will continue as a standalone business.
“It’s a strategy that makes sense for us in regional areas,” Corporate Express managing director, Grant Harrod, said.
The buyout of TEC came with the retirement of its owners, David and Carolyn Alcock, TEC sales manager, Scott Wilson, said. The dealership – which focused on copiers, faxes and printers – would remain unchanged, except for having “single source suppier and a little more access to printers,” according to Wilson.
While foreign-owned Corporate Express was continuing to snap up local stores in non-IT related areas such as janitorial, promotion and marketing, Harrod said there were no more IT acquisitions on the table at the moment. But he added the proviso: “The acquisition process is always difficult to predict.”
As a chain of more than 40 wholly-owned stores that largely buy direct from suppliers, Harrod said Corporate Express’ business model was closest to that of direct vendor Dell.
“Our difference is that we’re brand independent, and we’ve probably got a much quicker supply chain,” he said.
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