SanDisk Middle East and Africa (MEA), a global provider of flash memory cards has appointed the JK Sons Group in a partnership that will see the vendor address the UAE distribution and retail channels through National Store.
The deal to partner with National Store comes as SanDisk recorded a 57% growth in unit sales year-on-year. The move also paves the way for SanDisk to enhance its channel and retail strategy for 2011.
The flash memory cards vendor plans to bolster its presence through National Store’s extensive dealer network of over 150 major retail outlets across the country’s seven Emirates. National Store is the official distribution partner for Canon, a manufacturer of imaging products and solutions, which will significantly propel SanDisk’s presence in the imaging market.
Salah Khoory, GM at National Store, the flagship subsidiary of the JK Sons Group says the UAE’s consumer electronics market is buoyant and one of the largest in the Gulf. Khoory says forecasts suggest that the UAE’s consumer electronics market is projected to touch AED11.38 billion (US$3.1 billion) in 2011 and is expected to grow further to AED14.7 billion ($4.0 billion) by 2015. “This growth, coupled with our strong and established presence in the UAE, will help reinforce SanDisk’s brand in the retail channel and IT market,” he asserts.
Commenting on SanDisk’s regional presence, Tareq Husseini, SanDisk’s MEA Sales Director says the company’s strong position in the flash memory market today is the product of years of investment in channel partners and the market at large, through extensive marketing and market development efforts.
Sreedhar Sreekumar, regional sales manager for SanDisk MEA adds that National Store is a well established company with a strong network of retail stores and a proven track record in distribution specifically in high performance digital Imaging products. “With National Store, we have found the right partner for the UAE to make SanDisk’s range of products widely available across all consumer channels,” says.
SanDisk’s product portfolio includes flash memory cards for mobile phones, digital cameras and camcorders; digital audio/video players; USB flash drives for consumers and the enterprise; embedded memory for mobile devices; and solid state drives for computers.
