They were the first to sell digital cameras, plasmas, video projectors and DVD recorders in Miami. Every time they start selling something, they look at them like they're crazy, and at two years old they're all selling the same thing.
But Verité takes advantage of its advantage and channels it by continuously looking for new products and technologies. Today Verité Distributors celebrates 20 years of innovation, and about the celebration, TV&Video spoke with Jordi Verité, its president, and Gustavo Verité, vice president of the digital division.
For Jordi Verité, the company marks a path. "Nine years ago no one sold digital cameras; we bought 24 and then everyone thought we were crazy: who was going to buy digital cameras? Today we sell thousands of cameras a month. At that time nobody wanted to distribute them, now they knock on the doors of Sony, Fuji, Panasonic, Casio, in search of product."
Verité today has an important sales and support structure, with 40 employees, offices in four countries, a high profile in advertising and significant investment in marketing. The company maintains a very close alliance with Sony and Panasonic. From them you receive support and information about products: what is going to come, what is going to be discontinued, market trends, what is going to come in three years. While Verité works like everyone else, month by month in sales, with the knowledge of what is going to come in the short term, it plans a different strategy. In addition, the company operates with convenience logistics for the manufacturer and the consumer, from its headquarters in Miami.
According to its president, it also has an important asset in its clients. He respects them, tells them what happens in the market, what they need. The basis of their good results is to react to what the manufacturers propose and what the customers need: "Listening when the manufacturers say where the industry is going, what the Japanese say, what the Americans say, and although sometimes that does not work in Latin America immediately, it does mark a direction." It is a matter of harmonizing what they want to sell you with what they want to buy.
The company sells them to resellers who represent it, and who ultimately become associates of its interests. It does not sell indiscriminately or to end users. It has three divisions: one of technology for consumer use, another of equipment technology for broadcast television, and finally a division dedicated to the commercialization of tapes and means of record.
"All three are based on different pillars; the tapes are constantly consumed and replenished, we have customers who consume electronic technology that is replenished every three or four years, and others of television technology that is replenished every five or six years."
Where Verité is going
"We have plans for three to five years from now, and a vision of the future for our company. We designed a very strong advertising policy, and we are focused on what we should do better, and not on what others do; our policy is one of constant improvement in the service we provide."
The market will tell where they should grow. Verité today has offices in Chile, Panama and Argentina, and plans to open in Colombia and Brazil.
Their plans reveal that they don't want to base their sales on price but on the local support and support the user needs. They do not sell directly, their business is in alliances with local representatives, alliances with people who trust them, in their project.
For Jordi Verité, Latin America's capacity for growth is unlimited. When everyone said that the Latin American economy was in crisis, Verité Distributors grew 40%. For him it is clear that you have to know who to sell to and give a service that justifies the added value offered. "Customers clearly perceive what we bring, such as post-sale support, ready-to-ship inventory, credit options, our flexibility and knowledge of the product we offer, etc. But the worst of this crisis is over, in Argentina there is recovery, in Chile too. How much longer can the crisis in Venezuela last? In Peru and Brazil there is recovery, Colombia is always working and has a very special economy, and the Caribbean enjoys a stable economy."
Verité's goal is to remain focused on the advanced product, at the right price and the customer who needs it, to reach sales of more than US$ 60 million in five years. The projection is to double its sales in this period.
Technology tends to maintain its prices and in many cases becomes cheaper, and the Latin American market undoubtedly holds the best omens for distributors such as Verité: according to its president, this part of the continent works with recording formats that must be changed or renewed, to move sooner or later to HD or digital. It constitutes a market of US $ 150 to US $ 200 million a year, and its growth capacity is very large, because everything is to be done.
According to Gustavo Verité, in terms of technology for consumer use, his company's business in Latin America is based on video projectors, plasma televisions, digital cameras and tapes. And according to the development of the industry there will be, of course, an increase in the market for memory storage products, DVD technology and better audio and photography systems, because it should not be lost sight of the fact that "in Latin America there is always 10% of the population that wants to go on par with the United States".
At the moment the company has almost 30 sales projects for television channels in the listing stage, and a large percentage is made up of viable projects. Verité participates in the sale of equipment with after-sales support, and also offers equipment with complete integration: the study is designed, the project is prepared, the equipment that will work is put in place to obtain the expected results, it is installed, connected and only the client is left the mission of opening the door and working on turnkey projects.
In addition to this, they have started a content production company: Perfiles Productions, in partnership with 'Palito' Ortega, Juan Alberto Mateyko and Norberto Román; with six months to live, the company is already producing two programs. Today they have an important area of study and production to generate content. They will soon move to a larger office to house the new equipment they are purchasing. They have signed a contract with Venevisión Internacional for the distribution of one of their programs.
The key to success
Three years ago they decided to hire the best candidates they could afford for each position, and there have been nothing but successes and good results. They want to surround themselves with the best professionals in the field to ensure constant growth and be up to the growing needs of their clients.
Jordi Verité's thing is planning, administration, strategy, before moving on to the future business. For him, the success of Verité lies in an excellent selection of products, an efficient administration, its own logistics and the teamwork of an organization. Also, without a doubt, the drive of people like Pablo Goldstein, in charge of the broadcast division, tireless worker with an unparalleled vision of technology, and that of Gustavo Verité, with experience and commercial nose, who thoroughly enjoys the technology for the home that he offers, and who understands where the business is going, makes this trio a successful commercial ensemble. In addition, they have a group of people who share the company's project, know its management, believe in the future and the vision that these entrepreneurs propose and work hard to improve every day, clearly contributing to the success that is being achieved.
20 years ago they worked in very different conditions, accounting was carried out manually and they did not have computers. Today they change them every two years and every January they meet in a group to reinvent the business, to propose goals, to analyze the past year, to accept dreams; thus, they start the year with some ambitious projects that will be achieved and others that will have to wait. When they turn 20 they are already thinking about the celebration of 25, because "we are a company in motion, it is more difficult to stop than to continue expanding".
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