PC Retail

2008 was an eventful year for London-based vendor DGM. Fresh from a major rebranding, a name change, and a substantial growth in the LCD market, the vendor is now looking forward to 2009, with plans for further product ranges and an expansion of its partner programme in the pipeline.

Now in its thirteenth year, the vendor has become a worldwide leader in high quality LCD products and digital accessories.

Birth of a global leader
"Digimate was founded back in 1996 as a forward thinking enterprise dedicated to research and development, as well as the design, marketing and manufacture of LCD television and computer products," explains DGM's sales manager David Nazare. "We have offices all over Asia and we have a European head office in London, which is responsible for administering the entire region."

Having offices all over the world has been key to the firm's success, according to Nazare: "The biggest success for DGM in 2008 was our growth in the LCD television market, which is very difficult to establish yourself in."

In addition, Nazare was keen to stress the importance of the vendor's sales and marketing teams to its success: "It has taken a lot of work from the sales team and the marketing team in launching the products, as well as our new website, which has been designed to offer our partners and other customers the correct information at the click of a button."

Changing names
The other significant event during 2008 was the major rebranding of the company and its product lines under one moniker. "Sometimes a simple change of name can unlock the potential that was there all along; celebrities do it all the time," explains Nazare. He added that part of the reason was to simplify the name and branding across all of its operations, adding: "[celebrities] know that if you want people to remember you, it helps to have a name that sticks in the mind of the audience.

For us, it was just a case of outgrowing the name we started out with, Digimate fitted us fine in 1996 when we began selling computer parts and it still worked for us 12 years later." Explaining the reasoning behind the name change, he adds: "As a global company, we needed a name and a brand that will be recognised anywhere across the globe. The name DGM brings together more than 20 different trading names around the world. It's perfect for us because it's short, memorable and feels positive and lively."

Nazare was keen to stress that the change extended to its name only. "Apart from the new name, we'll be carrying on as usual," he adds. "We're proud of our heritage and our values. We've gotten to know our customers and have found that the best way to provide services is to treat every person as an individual. That's something we're definitely not going to change in the future."

Indeed, the total gearing of the company around the needs of its customers as individuals has filtered right the way down to product level. "Each of our products and services are tailored to focus on the specific needs of retailers and consumers," adds Nazare. "We're continually broadening our product range, while maintaining our very high standard of quality control and in house customer service."

The personal touch
Key to maintaining this personal focus on the customer has been the firm's commitment to developing and manufacturer of its own products: "We are the main manufacturer of our own products. In addition, we are constantly using our understanding of the global marketplace, our buying power and our insight into emerging technology to drive prices down and explore new opportunities."

Indeed, this philosophy lies at the heart of the company's plans for 2009. "We will be launching our new range of LCD televisions in the next couple of months, as well as a new range of audio and video product accessories as well," explains Nazare. "We are looking to expand our sales force to give our customers more sales support."

Nazare also hinted at plans to ramp up the firm's channel program later in the year, as well as increasing the number of distribution partners it has at the moment. "DGM is looking forward to 2009, despite the downturn. We've got a new range of products and we're looking at expanding our network of partners and distributors."