UP FRONT
Necessary or expendable?
A reminder of the distributor's role
In this issue , we explore the role of the dis-
tributor today .
We canvassed opinions from a number of
manufacturers , distributors , and operators on the
nature of the distributor today because, within the
past year, his role has been questioned more and
more .
Factories , dissatisfied with the drastic decline
in sales activities , have complained that distributors
are not ably representing their products to opera-
tors . And so, publicly and privately , some manu -
facturers have flirted with the idea of selling direct to
operators .
And operators, angered by distributors who
have sold them bad product or who they see as
operating competitors , see no advantage and , in
fact , see a disadvantage in buying locally .
Such is the fate of the distributor middleman
who serves two masters- the manufacturer who
wants to sell product and the operator who wants to
operate it as long as possible .
In truth , the distributor probably helped create
his own whirlwind of controversy by neglecting his
true role during the video game boom . It was too
easy to unload manufacturers' product because
there were always more buyers than games to go
around .
But ,then again , a case can be made that the
manufacturer neglected his role and responsibility
during the video game boom , and the operator, too .
So now the industry has shrunk in size . There
isn 't the great demand for product there was at the
beginning of the decade . Distributors have more
time to deal with their operator customers on a one -
to-one basis .
But does the industry really want any part of it?
Does the manufacturer still want to go through the
distributor network to sell his games , or does he
think he can do a better selling job himself.
Does the operator see any advantage to buying
from his local distributors , or does the whole thing
boil down to where he can go to get the best price on
PLAY METER. September 15. 1985
equipment?
When we asked our questions to manufac-
turers , distributors , and operators about the role of
the d istributor today, we expected to get, in most
cases , textbook answers . And , for the most part,
that 's what we got , textbook answers. But it is from
examining this multiplicity of responses , the sum of
all these textbook responses , that we believe the
whole role of the distributor today comes clear.
The reason we went through this exercise is
twofold :
1. To remind the distributor who maybe has
forgotten or lost sight of his purpose what his role is
in the coin-op amusement industry .
2. For the manufacturer and operator who see
the distributor as an expendable part of the industry
that they had better think long and hard about the
many services the distributor provides the industry.
Where will all this come from if there is no dis-
tributor?
From where will come the vitality , the grease
that makes the industry hum along?
It's all too easy to dismiss the distributor as
being merely a sales arm of the manufacturer, but
there 's more to his function than just the sale of new
equipment .
The good distributor is the source for sound ,
practical advice at the local level. He is the local
games expert , the financier , the serviceman , the
parts supply house , the salesman , the factory go-
between , and the operator consultant the industry
needs today .
A distributor who is still performing all these
functions for his operator customers today will have
a place in the industry tomorrow.
David Pierson
Editor
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