Retail technology distributor Sektor and VeriFone Eftpos terminal distributor Tech Trans have announced a merger, which they say creates a one stop shop for resellers of point of sale hardware, mobility and Eftpos.
“Mobility and point of sale hardware is the history and legacy of the people involved in Sektor,” says general manager Rhys Warren. “Eftpos is 100 percent complementary to what we do, but there’s a requirement for specific, niche expertise in that area because the barriers to entry are quite high.”
Warren says these barriers centre around the investment in software development that is required to achieve certification for terminals, in accordance with changing compliance requirements of local Eftpos networks – Electronic Transaction Service Ltd’s Paymark and ANZ National’s Eftpos New Zealand.
Tech Trans spokesperson Stuart Webster says being first to market with Eftpos software is an important part of his company’s strategy.
“A key part of our business is compliance with industry mandates,” he says, adding it was the first to achieve certification for the two latest versions of Paymark software (the most recent being Paymark 6.0), and ANZ’s version 4.8.
“The merger with Sektor is the next logical step in our growth strategy,” says Webster. “We both have channel-centric business models…[and] offer our reseller networks complementary product sets to take to their customers.”
Tech Trans was formed in 2001 and has captured about a 20 percent share of the overall Eftpos market, says Webster. It serves an existing network of Verifone dealers nationally and has been the exclusive distributor for the agency for more than 10 years.
Sektor was formed earlier this year and launched HP products into the point of sale marketplace in New Zealand at the time.
Tech Trans has two Auckland-based staff, who moved across to Sektor this week, along with nine staff in the Wellington region.
This brings the number of staff in the merged company to 24. Sektor has 12 staff in Auckland and one in Christchurch. “[The merger] is perfect from a geography perspective,” says Warren, adding there are opportunities to offer point of sale and mobility technology to a wider market in the lower North Island, thanks to Tech Trans' Wellington presence.
Verifone joins Sektor’s growing range of vendors, including Intermec. Sektor and Tech Trans say VeriFone sells more then 3.5 million Eftpos terminals a year globally, and is represented in more than 100 countries.
Sektor hosted a roadshow in the three main centres last week, which attracted more than 100 partners, independent software vendors and integrators.
The event centred around two presentation streams – retail technology and POS hardware, and mobilility. It also included a mini trade show.
Seven vendors presented, comprising Intermec, HP, Honeywell, Epson, Zebra, Digipos and Microsoft on Windows Mobile.
