Growing gaming market
Of course not all vendors want to restrict themselves to just one distributor and it looks likethe feeling's mutual. "When Razer took on Realtime as a distributor they still wanted Meroncourt to remain exclusively committed to them as a gaming mouse supplier, but that wasn't viable," explains Walsh.
"LAN gaming has really taken off in the time we've been involved in that market and as a result the high-end gaming peripherals segment has grown rapidly. There are also more new vendors coming to market, like Roccat."
"We've taken on quite a few new vendors recently. Mionix is a relatively new Swedish gaming brand that we've just taken on. We've also started distributing Coolermaster's CM Storm chassis range and its Choiix notebook accessory sub-brand."
So it looks like a combination of careful stock management, anticipating product trends and trying to help its customers have all contributed to Meroncourt's ability to keep growing through a recession.
This example may not apply to everyone in the channel, but as the bad financial news continues to break, it's encouraging to hear confirmation that there's still plenty of business out there if you look for it.
