PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
PCR Company of the Year, Target Components, has celebrated its 25th anniversary as a distributor with a 300-attendee event in Leeds.
The Target Open Day featured a 40-stand exhibition, 33 business advice and personal development workshops along with a specially curated anniversary event sponsored by Kingston Technology, celebrating Target’s 25 years in distribution and first anniversary as an employee-owned business.
The event also saw Target officially unveil its system build department, Target PC Build Services. Amalgamating the distributor’s PC configurators – The Custom PC Builder, it’s end-user facing iteration The In-Store PC Builder and The Quick PC Builder – with Target’s own off-the-shelf PC builds range, Target PC Build Services also offers OEM services and will support customers entering tenders, bids and government frameworks.
Dominating the Open Day exhibition, the Target PC Build Services stand also hosted a number of vendors working closely with Target to develop their builds services, including Gigabyte, Antec and Kingston Technology, all of whom are named, official partners of Target PC Build Services. Members of the Target team were also on-hand to speak to attendees who ranged from independent IT resellers and consultants, to large etailers and public bodies.
Speaking during the event, Target PC Build Services lead, Cory Lees, discussed what these services mean to Target customers: “The whole department is led by our customers’ requirements – the Custom PC Builder was where we started as it gives all our customers the opportunity to design and sell system-specific builds really easily, but our retail customers wanted the same capabilities in a customer-facing interface, so we designed the In-Store PC Builder that allows customers use their own branding and markups.”
“Both were so well-received but our feedback showed that a lot of those customers needed a generic, basic spec with the option to upgrade the memory, storage and operating system to a specific cost, which is exactly what the Quick PC Builder was subsequently designed to do. And since then we’ve been asked for help with customers bidding on public sector frameworks, and other projects that have required more understanding of financial and sustainability implications, both of which are hot topics across the board now.”
“The Open Day is a fantastic way of highlighting that, by providing all these services, we can now help our customers with any requirements they have regardless of their own business size.”
The Target Open Day also saw 15 non-vendor exhibitors discussing their own services and expertise – from the Bank of England discussing the economic outlook, to leasing companies providing information on access to funding and personal development professionals offering advice of bettering customers’ businesses.
Target’s managing director, Michael Lawrence, explained how the Open Day was a cap on a very exciting week for the distributor “Within a week, we have won Company of the Year at the PCR awards, something we really weren’t expecting but were absolutely overjoyed at, and hosted what we think was our best event yet.”
“Even beforehand, customers were saying what a great range of business workshops we were hosting and the compliments have just grown since. It’s been a very pride-driven few days for me and I have been so impressed by everyone involved, from the vendors and exhibitors who have put on a fantastic show, to the workshop presenters who have tailored their content specifically for Target Open Day attendees, to the venue staff at the Village Hotel and, not least, all the Target and Servers Plus staff who have pulled out all the stops to show Target as we are – approachable and dedicated to developing growth with our partners in every aspect of what we do.”
For more information on the Target Open Day and Target PC Build Services, visit targetcomponents.co.uk.
