The Old Hand: from order to chaos to profit

Trader. Parallel Trader. Grey Trader. I have been referred to by these titles along with other extremely derogatory terms during my time in the business. But what is it that truly enables us to create profit and enterprise, and why do we even exist at all in the supply chain of distribution?

Greed, fear, confusion and inconsistency are the answers to this question. Vendors are so self obsessed with protecting their intellectual property that by the implementation and enforcement of their protective policies, they actually create the opposite effect and the very thing they set out to eradicate (trading) becomes the very thing they create – the loss of control over their intellectual property, and in due course the erosion of their all-important margin. I, for one, say thank you to Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, and any other vendor that I have made a profit from in the last 27 years.

Let’s pretend for one moment that we are Alice looking through her looking glass in La La Land. If vendors adopted a free, uncontrolled policy and sold their product to the people with the deepest pockets, then there would be no need to create a complex infrastructure of officially appointed distribution channels that incorporate into the mix carriers, distributors and large retail chains. It would merely be a case of winner-takes-all, and the winner would be the company that has the finance and the willingness to pay the price. Where would we be then? Non-existent is the answer. The demand for the product will always exist, as we well know. So, on behalf of all the traders and the trading companies all over the world, I say a great big thank you to the vendors for past and future business. Implement your control, market your products and we will take a margin.

I spent four years of my life selling more Nokia products sourced from a small European country than the country itself could actually consume. I often visualised each and every person within that country pushing a shopping trolley in the street full of Nokia mobile phones.