BlueStar Executives Reveal Channel Trends At VARTECH

By Jim Roddy, VP of Marketing, RSPA

I appreciated that BlueStar executives cut to the chase during their regional update meeting with a few hundred U.S.-based VAR partners Thursday afternoon at their annual VARTECH conference in New Orleans. So I’ll cut to the chase and get right to some of their most insightful statistics and quotes.

Printer Trends

BlueStar is seeing strong growth in printer sales and attributed that to four key factors:

1. Demand driven by iOS and Android POS solutions for receipt printers.
2. Mobile printer sales are up.
3. Mobile computer sales are up more than 30% over the past 2+ years.
4. There are more customer-facing solutions in retail, healthcare, and field service as businesses strive to increase customer service.

“Mobility is once again a key indicator of what is happening in the channel,” said Steve Cuntz (pictured), BlueStar’s President/CEO. “Our mobile printer sales are trending up quite a bit. Along with that, mobile computer sales are up dramatically this year. There isn’t a better device at this time we see on the horizon to replace them.”

Regarding the retail vertical, Cuntz said, “The goal is to increase the satisfaction of the customer. Thanks to a lot of pioneering work by Apple, you can take the store experience to the customer — in the store at the point of sale.”

Scanner Trends

Scanner sales are also growing by double digits. BlueStar listed five factors behind that trend:

1. 2D is replacing 1D scanners to read bar codes on consumer devices/phones.
2. One out of three iOS and Android POS solutions require scanners. Bluetooth scanners have been the strongest.
3. More mobile solutions require details for scheduling, tracking, and on-time deliveries.
4. They contribute to meeting HIPAA requirements in healthcare solutions.
5. There is a slowdown as sleds and consumer devices improve scanning functionality. Consumer device use is up in enterprise solutions.

“We have seen some slowdown on sleds,” Cuntz said. “We’re not sure why that is, but some of the other devices have become more user friendly with better technology. Auto ID devices are indeed trending up.”

Mobile Computing Trends

Mobile computing is also experiencing growth for these five reasons:

1. There is more business in mobile solutions for tiers 1 and 2. Mobile solution support and acceptance is increasing in tier 4.
2. Demand is increasing in peripheral devices for tablets.
3. There is a greater use of customer-facing solutions in retail, hospitality, healthcare, and field service.
4. Consumer-grade device use is up sharply because of the improved functionality with more peripheral devices.
5. Tablets are replacing laptops and desktops in specific business applications.

Regarding mobile computing, Cuntz said, “Tablets and the user experience with tablets are having a significant impact on how people do computing. We’ve seen tremendous growth in our tablet business and we expect that trend to continue.”

Product Category Trends

I won’t share BlueStar’s specific percentage increases, but I’ll list in descending order which areas are growing fastest:

• wireless
• software
• digital signage
• access points
• readers
• transaction terminals
• cash drawers
• magnetic stripe readers
• pole displays
• keyboards
• services/warranties
• tablets
• batteries
• bundles
• monitors

The only areas that did not experience growth were all-in-ones and kiosks.

BlueStar VP of marketing Mark Fraker commented on these overall trends. “Regulations are driving behaviors, especially when you talk about HIPAA requirements and PCI,” he said. “When you hear that no one really knows what’s going on with EMV, that’s true. We’re getting questions from the VAR community about that. One thing we keep hearing about with these regulations is that sunset dates are driving certain behaviors. Some end users are buying products and not activating them because they want to future proof their organization in case these regulations cause them to implement new technologies.”

The Shift To As-A-Service

Fraker also shared with the attendees a BlueStar initiative related to VARs transitioning their business model away from break/fix to the as-a-Service recurring revenue model. “We had a great session with HP on Solution-as-a-Service today,” Fraker said. “We have a new hybrid SaaS (Solution-as-a-Service) model we’re doing with pcAmerica, HP, and Mercury Payment Systems. We call it ‘hybrid SaaS’ because you (the VAR) get paid up front but your end users have a monthly payment. The equipment comes back after a three-year term and you replace it.

“It was our way to help you bridge that gap for transitioning your business to the recurring revenue business model. Our financing staff has been working on this for two to three years. And the packages we’ve put together have high margins.”

Said BlueStar VP of Finance Doug Bivins, “It’s a topic that’s been hot in our industry for years. It’s going to be coming together. We’re tired of talking about it — everyone is ready for it. I know BSM has had a focus on it for years. For those who stayed on it and didn’t leave it behind, thank you.”

VARTECH 2014 is being held Sept. 18-20 in New Orleans at the Hyatt Regency and the Superdome. VARTECH, the annual conference for value-added distributor BlueStar partners, focuses on data collection, point of sale, mobility, digital signage, RFID, and security. For more information on BlueStar and VARTECH, go to www.BSMinfo.com/solution/InsideBlueStar.