Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Stampede Increases Credit Lines to Qualified Dealers; Invests Millions of New Dollars In Product Inventory

Putting its money squarely behind its stated commitment to serve as a complete business partner for its 9,000 dealer network, Stampede Presentations Products, Inc. today announced that it is expanding the credit facilities it offers to qualified dealers and investing millions of additional dollars in deepening its product inventory to be in a stronger position to meet dealer demands for faster order shipments.

“Our dealers have made it very clear to us that they see 2012 as a very strong year for them if they can obtain the credit they need and the product they need to complete their customer installations in a timely way,” Stampede President & COO Kevin Kelly said today.  “Stampede is in a very strong financial position to meet both of these needs and we intend to do so by expanding the credit we offer to qualified dealers and increasing the inventory we carry on critically important core products, such as displays, projectors, and video conferencing equipment.”

Stampede has successfully served as a beacon of financial stability for its dealer network throughout the most recent recession.  While many of its competitors cut back in every part of their business, or exited the business entirely, Stampede invested tens of millions of dollars in new product lines, company acquisitions, new technologies, and people.   During 2011 alone, Stampede extended over $55 million monthly in credit lines to its dealers. This critically important credit lifeline helped countless customers not only maintain their businesses but expand them in very challenging times. And now that business in general is improving, Stampede is totally committed to increasing its financial support to dealers in the two areas that matter most to them — credit and inventory.

Stampede is able to step in and provide the support its dealers need because it has a record of sustained year-to-year growth despite the recession, a detailed understanding of the economics of the ProAV industry, and a rock solid relationship their its financial partners.  “You have to remember that last year Stampede experienced a 51-percent growth in unit sales in core categories and a 48-percent increase in operating profit, constituting the most successful year in our 15-year history.  In fact, Stampede now represents more than 120 different manufacturers, with 35 new lines added just in the last two years, to support our 9,000-plus dealer partners,” Kelly emphasized.

Amplifying this message further, Stampede Chief Executive Officer Mark Wilkins invoked Warren Buffet’s famous investment maxim in explaining that Stampede’s strategy is to be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.  If you think back to when the financial crisis really started in 2008, credit lines were being closed down almost overnight. Stampede throughout this entire time provided stable and growing credit to the professional AV marketplace. We circled the wagons and, with our financial advisors, we decided that this can’t go on forever.”

As a result of their ability to offer financing, Stampede helped keep the market liquid for countless customers. “We’ve invested millions of dollars in financing and in additional inventory, to be able to provide that value to those manufacturer partners, and to be able to have that product on hand and available for immediate shipment to our dealers. At the end of the day we are enabling dealers to do a job that they may not have been able to do themselves without the value-adds that we provide. It could be a situation where they didn’t have access to a certain category of products. It could be a situation where they didn’t have access to certain credit facilities that would enable them to do a larger job. We are stepping in an filling in the gaps wherever they exist.”

About Stampede
Known for its value-added distribution, Amherst, New York-based Stampede is the leading distributor of presentation equipment including LCD/DLP projectors and flat panel displays. Stampede provides a complete range of brand name presentation equipment to a variety of audio/video, computer, and home theater resellers and integrators in the United States, Canada and Latin America. These resellers rely on Stampede for value-added services in distribution, marketing and solution- based sales. Stampede annually produces the “Big Book of AV,” an 816-page catalog and companion website (www.BigBookofAV.com) providing hundreds of sales, installation and spec tips for Stampede’s dealers in addition to product details on more than 5,000 SKUs. For more information on Stampede, log onto www.stampedeglobal.com.

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