Component distributor, Fortunetec, has launched a new online Retail Store targeted at end-users. The move has enraged one reseller, who said the site had put it in direct competition with its resellers.
The online store offers a select number of products such as gaming power supplies and cases, digital storage products and external HDD enclosures direct to end-users.
Fortunetec managing director, Justin Hsu, played down the significance of the move and was keen to stress that it would not affect its focus on dealer relationships.
"Sometimes our resellers cannot get out to some end-user locations and that's why we added this convenient service," he said. "Partners should not be worried. The website has a separate section for end-users and partners - it's two facilities in one."
It also includes a press centre, downloadable price lists, detailed product information and company news.
Techbuy managing director, Colin Mead, said Fortunetec should be supporting its resellers instead of going into competition with them and creating a pricing war.
"Fortunetec really has to sit down and decide whether it is going to be a retail or wholesale outlet," he said. "Every direct sale it makes comes out of somebody else's pocket."
Mead warned that distributors who dabbled in the retail market had a history of losing their reseller base.
Fortunetec is currently looking to recruit system integrators that specialise in the whitebox market.
It hopes to appoint up to 100 resellers during the next six months.
