Ingram Micro 2013 Annual Report Download - page 4

Table of Contents
that already have an established global presence and existing infrastructure, which is why we are strategically focused on increasing our capabilities in these
areas.
Our diversification strategy continues to provide us with new growth opportunities while reducing our dependence on our current set of partners and
markets. We believe that we are the only global broad-based technology distributor with distribution operations in every region and offer the largest breadth of
products in our industry. Our extensive global coverage, breadth of product and solution offerings and wide range of business partners reduce the risks from
volatility and demand fluctuations in a single market, vendor or product segment.
What We Do
IT Distribution — We buy, hold title to, and sell technology products and services to resellers who, in turn, typically sell directly to end-users or other
resellers. Resellers build efficiencies and reduce costs by relying on Ingram Micro for product availability, marketing, credit, training and enablement,
technical support and inventory management. Our distribution services are tailored to meet the needs of resellers serving a wide range of end-users, including
consumers, SMBs, public sector entities and large enterprises. We offer programs and services designed to support value-added resellers (“VARs”) that serve
as technology sources for the SMB market. The SMB end-user segment is generally one of the largest segments of the IT market in terms of number of
customers and total dollars spent annually, and typically provides higher gross margins for distributors as it is more challenging for suppliers to penetrate
directly. We support Internet-based resellers through expanded line card offerings and customized, personalized delivery directly to their end-user customers.
We are advancing our presence in the higher-value segment of the IT market and we have added products, services and capabilities, as well as associates with
the requisite technical skills to broaden our portfolio of higher-value technology solutions. Our expanded capabilities and portfolio enable our resellers to
capture opportunities in areas such as the data center market, enterprise computing, storage solutions, virtualization, enterprise software, unified
communications, networking and security. By strengthening our position in higher-value product categories, our resellers are able to provide end-users with
more complete solutions, augmenting IT products with other categories such as automatic identification and data capture (“AIDC”), point-of-sale (“POS”),
physical security, consumer electronics (“CE”), professional audio visual, digital signage products and energy-saving technologies.
Mobility — Our end-to-end mobile device lifecycle capabilities utilize multi-disciplinary expertise to solve the challenges of many of the world’s leading
mobile technology manufacturers, network operators, retailers and value-added resellers. Our position within the mobile ecosystem allows us to provide
leading value-added distribution and customized supply chain solutions. We create value through distribution services focused on portfolio management,
credit management, channel development and marketing with personalized attention to account management. The portfolio of products we offer includes
smartphones, tablets, machine-to-machine, companion products and accessories. Supply-chain solutions offered include forward and reverse logistics, SIM
kitting, customization services (device configuration, software/application loading, customized packaging and flashing), eBusiness (e-commerce platform, IT
integration and hosted web stores on demand), airtime activation, managed financial services, advanced planning and trade-in programs. Our device lifecycle
services are designed to create solutions that lower transportation costs, extend market reach, maximize value recovered from returned devices and provide
complete visibility of products as they move through the supply chain. Customers include network operators, mobile virtual network operators ("MVNOs"),
manufacturers, retailers, etailers, and value-added resellers.
Supply-Chain Services — Our expertise in logistics enables us to extend our business beyond traditional distribution and technology products. We
offer fee-based supply-chain services, encompassing the end-to-end functions of the supply-chain to vendors choosing to sell direct. Likewise, we offer fee-
based services to retailers and Internet resellers seeking fulfillment services, inventory management, reverse logistics and other supply-chain services. Our
supply-chain services are designed to enable our customers to better compete by reducing their costs, improving their asset efficiency and increasing the
quality of service to their customers. During 2013, we complemented our supply-chain services with the acquisition of two logistics service providers.
Shipwire, which provides a suite of e-commerce supply-chain services, offers SMB e-commerce customers fast and low-cost onboarding and access to top e-
commerce logistics platforms. Shipwire’s platform capabilities will also be available to serve our medium- and large-brand customers by reducing onboarding
time and complexity. CloudBlue expands our supply-chain solutions portfolio with a suite of services that are intended to reduce the risk, cost and complexity
associated with securely managing IT assets and consumer electronics through their lifecycle in compliance with environmental and data security regulations.
CloudBlue's offering also improves the reverse logistics supply chain of our customers.
Cloud — We have aggregated approximately 200 cloud solutions from more than 70 vendors on a global basis. These solutions span virtually every
solution category. Our resellers in certain geographic markets can access our catalog of cloud solutions and tailor cloud offerings to fit the business needs of
their end-user customers. New cloud solutions are assessed to ensure quality and reliability before becoming part of our cloud services portfolio. We provide
tools and support to assist resellers in providing cloud services to their customers. The acquisition of SoftCom provides our resellers with a single portal to
manage cloud solutions for their end customers. The acquisition also delivers domain name management, search optimization and Web design and hosting.
Originally a North American initiative, we have launched cloud services to varying degrees in a number of
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