Product Type: Market Research Report
Published by: Access Markets International Partners
Published: January 2006
Product Code: R149-450Description AMI estimates that there are about 5,632 IT channel partners (excluding ISPs) in the China that derive at least 50% of their annual sales revenues from sales to SMBs. Collectively, these IT SMB channel partners had annual revenues of $273.4 thousand last year, making them a very attractive market for IT vendors.
As intermediaries between IT vendors and end-users, SMB channel partners play a crucial role in the highly dynamic IT industry. With different specializations like Value-Added Resellers (VAR), System Integrators (SI) and Network Integrators (NI), Independent Software Vendors (ISV), IT Consultants, Web Solution Providers and Communications Integrators, these channel providers sell a wide range of products and services to IT end-users. In addition, their proximity to, and close interaction with the end-users also provides them an opportunity to participate in, and influence their clients' brand selections. Thus, they are sought not only by IT vendors trying to reach the end-users of their products and services, but also by end-users trying to keep up with the ever changing technologies.
Like the customers they serve, IT SMB channel partners are a diverse group and, in many respects, the channel partners' industry mirrors the adoption profile of its customers. This is reflected in the products and services they offer, specializations they develop, size, location and attitudes toward new technologies, etc., a fact brought into sharp focus in the four segments of the channel partners' industry presented in this report. These four segments have a one-to-one correspondence with the four segments identified in separate reports by AMI for the end-users in the China small business and China medium business markets. By following a constant segmentation structure both for the end-users and the channel partners markets, IT vendors can develop a constant and highly actionable marketing strategy and also implement it with greatest effectiveness.
This report presents an overview of the China IT SMB channel partners market segmentation. These segments, referred to as Tiers, represent a continuum from the technologically most sophisticated to the least sophisticated IT channel partners. Their technological sophistication is defined in terms of both the products and services they currently offer as well as their business attitudes (i.e. attitude toward adoption of new technologies, attitude toward marketing, and attitudes toward partnering with other businesses including IT vendors and other channel partners), which reflects their inclination to maintain their level of sophistication in the future. The Management Summary presents profiles of individual segments followed by detailed cross-segment analysis.
Table of Contents - Management Summary
- Overview of China Channel Partners SMB Segmentation
- AMI-Partners 2004 Channel Partners Segmentation
- Profiles of U.S. Channel Partners Segments
- Tier 1 Channel Partners: Enterprise Adopters or Premium Service Providers
- Tier 2 Channel Partners: Value-Priced Service Providers
- Tier 3: Mainstream Service Provider
- Tier 4: IT Laggards
- Statement of Methodology for SMB Channel Partners Study for China
- Channel Partners Covered
- The SMB Channel Partners Study: Survey Methodology
- Universe, Sample Selection
- Data Collection Method
- Weighting of Survey Data
- Incentives
- Survey Instrument
- Issues Covered in Channel Partners Survey
- Margin for Error
- Channel Partners’ Background: An Un-Segmented View
- AMI Partners 2004-5 Channel Partners Segmentation
- Study Overview
- Background and Customer Profiles
- Current and Planned Product and Service Offerings
- Business Model and Attitudes
- Decision Making and Vendor Rating
- Demographics and Background
- White Boxes Offered & Built
- Sales & Business Techniques Used In China
- E-Commerce Use & Revenues
- Business Attitudes
- Vendor’s
- Vendors Channel Partner’s Satisfaction
- China SMB IT Channel Partners Market Segments
- Glossary
- List of Figures
- Figure 1 - Overview of 2004-5 China SMB Channel Partners Segments
- Figure 2 - Channel Segmentation: Mapping Partners to SMB Customers
- Figure 3 - Summary of 2004-5 China SMB Channel Partners Segments
- Figure 4 - Summary of 2004-5 China SMB Channel Partners Segments (continued)
- Figure 5 - Summary Profile of Tier 1: Prime Service Providers
- Figure 6 - Summary Profile of Tier 2: Value Priced Service Providers
- Figure 7 - Summary Profile of Tier 3: Mainstream Service Providers
- Figure 8 - Summary Profile of Tier 4: IT Laggards
- Figure 9 - Methodology
- Figure 10 - Methodology (Cont’d.)
- Figure 11: Issues Covered for the 2004-5 China SMB Channel Partners Study
- Figure 12 - Objectives for SMB Channel Partners Segmentation Model for China
- Figure 13 - Questions Used for China SMB Channel Partners Segmentation
- Figure 14 - Margin of Error
- Figure 15 - Summary of Findings for China
- Figure 16 - 2004-5 Structure of China Channel Partner Industry
- Figure 17 - Primary Business Activities of Channel Partners
- Figure 18 - Primary Business of 2004-5 Channel Partners by Segment
- Figure 19 - Location of China SMB Channel Partners by Segment
- Figure 20 - Age of SMB Channel Partners by Segment for China
- Figure 21 - Annual Sales Revenues by Segment
- Figure 22 - Number of Employees by Segments in China
- Figure 23 - Numbers of Locations by Segment in China
- Figure 24 - Numbers of Active Customers by Segment on China
- Figure 25 - Annual Revenue Growth Last Year by Segment in China
- Figure 26 - Expected Annual Revenue Growth Next Year by Segment
- Figure 27- IT Intensity of Customers by Segment
- Figure 28 - Vertical Markets Served by Segment in China
- Figure 29 - Average Customer Account Size by Segment
- Figure 30 - Annual Sales Revenues by Segment for China
- Figure 31 - Revenue Mix Size by Segment in China
- Figure 32- Channel Partners Influence in Customers Brand Selection by Segment in China
- Figure 33 - Effectiveness of Vendor Communication Strategies in China
- Figure 34 - Number of Products & Services Offered by Segment
- Figure 35 - Current & Planned Computing HW & SW by Segment n China
- Figure 36 - Current & Planned Networking & Internet by Segment
- Figure 37 - Current & Planned Security & IT Services by Segment
- Figure 38 - Channel Partners Offering White Boxes by Segment in China
- Figure 39 - Percentage that Build White Boxes by Segment in China
- Figure 40 - Revenues Derived from Different Product & Services by Segment
- Figure 41 - Percent Using Different Sales Techniques by Segment in China
- Figure 42 - Average Margins for Computing & Networking Hardware by Segment
- Figure 43 - Average Margins for Packaged & Custom Software by Segment
- Figure 44 - Avg. Margins for Computing, Internet Services & Telephony by Segment in China
- Figure 45 - Currently Have or Plan to Have a Web Site by Segment
- Figure 46 - % Revenues from E-Selling by Segment for 2004-5 in China
- Figure 47 - Business Attitudes by Segment in China
- Figure 48 - Critical Customer Satisfaction by Segment in China
- Figure 49 - Critical Customer Satisfaction by Segment in China (Continued)
- Figure 50 - Critical Customer Satisfaction by Segment in China (Continued)
- Figure 51 - Semiconductor & Computing Vendors Represented by Segment
- Figure 52 - Networking & Storage Vendors Represented by Segment
- Figure 53 - Software/Security Vendors Represented by Segment
- Figure 54 - Computing & Semiconductor Providing Vendor Satisfaction by Segment
- Figure 55 - Networking & Storage Vendor Providing Satisfaction by Segment
- Figure 56 - Security & Software Vendor Providing Satisfaction by Segment
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