Hitachi Going Mainstream?

Say it ain't so! There's an ominous announcement on Marketnews about Hitachi consolidating their marketing and distribution for North America.

Marketnews: Hitachi Takes New Measures to Strengthen Business in Canada

Effective April 1, 2008, management of Hitachi flat-panel TVs sales and service in Canada will be the responsibility of Hitachi Home Electronics (Canada), a division of Hitachi Home Electronics (America), Inc. (HHEA). Canadian sales, product training and service will continue to operate from existing offices in Mississauga, ON.

That's fine, as far as it goes, and is no doubt necessary to remain competitive. The ominous part comes next:

Hitachi’s success in Canada over the years," Harrison added, "is due to our dealers and their loyalty to us. Such long-standing relationships will only be strengthened by this new strategy. We see this as a growth opportunity to improve our sales and distribution in a way that strongly supports our Canadian dealers’ business objectives.”

In general, when a vendor talks about how much it cherishes its dealers, it's about to pull the rug out from under them.

Until now, Hitachi has focused primarily on servicing small independent and regional chains. It sounds to me like they've decided that they've saturated that market channel and are now interested in going with the Big Box national players.

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