One supplier is not a good idea
would be “narrow minded”
Klingshield Marketing Department
Johannesburg South Africa August 2011
Having been in business for the past forty years and looking back on all the experiences encountered and all the costly mistakes made along the way, many lessons have been learnt from these mistakes!
It is for this reason that I decided to write this article. A company puts itself in a dangerous position when it has all it's eggs in one basket. I learnt this lesson after representing a major window film company for many years.
This style of distribution agreement calls for a company to sell one product exclusively with certain conditions. Because this company with their particular brand believed they had an advantage, they called the shots and dealt in ways that suited them. For instance they required a certain volume of film to be purchased per year, with an escalation which in practise means that if sales drop for any reason the distributor must keep purchasing and huge volumes of stock start to accumulate on shelves.
All products are boxed with their brand name, so at the end of the day, the distributor works hard to promote his own business, but in reality the name belongs to that manufacturer as they were smart enough to register the name in most countries around the world in order to be protected.
Then the shit hits the fan one day and a dispute arises due to numerous reasons. Either the distributor cannot keep financing the minimum quantities or the manufacturer’s quality deteriorates, their technology becomes outdated or their prices are no longer competitive. All these problems make it difficult for the distributor to remain ahead of the game and a decision is made to drop the agency.
Well this is when the fun and games begin. The first thing the manufacturer does is he appoints another distributor who undertakes to buy a shitload of film as required by the manufacturer. The new distributor picks up the brand name and starts to trade on the hard work of the old distributor. The next thing the new player does is headhunt and gets a key employer from the old distributor to pick up the customer list plus all the knowhow. He starts to erode the old distributor’s business . Well, I guess this is known as free enterprise.
Klingshield buy film on the open market and we own the brand KLINGSHIELD. Nobody can ever take that away from us. We purchase the latest products on the open market, the top of the manufacturer’s ranges at fair market related prices. Some manufactures have only a few top of the range products and we are not forced to distribute products we have tested and know won’t last.
Klingshield has it's own research department so this enables us to understand the longevity and performances of the films we distribute.
This is a good enough reason for us to conduct our business in this fashion. We have always endeavoured to advertise and market our brand so we can remain in control and sell the best products on the world market.
It is for the above reason that we believe we offer the best window film on the South African Market as well as the best service and a warranty that is the finest in the business.
Please view our testimonials and warranty pages on our website to see what our clients say about us.
