Audio Visual (AV) technology is hardly the sort of field that conjures up as much excitement as retail consumer electronics, this is despite the fact that it has its own cycle of rapid product change, technology and patent development and some fierce competition put up by brands that are always pushing boundaries in service enhancement.
One such brand is Kramer Electronics. For 35 years the company has been one of the recognisable providers of AV technology, making a name for itself by pursuing a high mark of quality on its entire product range which extends to over 1,200 products.
Now, Kramer Electronics has added Zimbabwe on to its list of service regions and has established a distribution unit in Harare. This centre will manage all official liaison with Kramer Electronics while offering a direct channel for AV technology distributors to transfer all issues relating to the line’s warranties and after sales service.
Who is Kramer Electronics?
The company was started in 1981 in Israel and after years of brand growth and product development it set up an office in the United States in 1997. It currently has a presence in 5 continents with major sales and distribution facilities in 18 countries and export centres in 100 countries.
Kramer Technologies products include Audio Visual hardware for corporate clients, educational institutions, entertainment centres, places of worship, medical facilities and public sector facilities.
Some of the products from Kramer Electronics
These products offer video switching, audio transmission as well remote access to facilities through the integration of cloud technologies and consumer level software such as mobile applications. Some of its products, like the K-Touch a cloud-based touch solution for AV control, have been cited as instrumental in developing workplace and facility efficiencies in centres like universities.
We spoke to Milan Vidovic, the managing director of GoodBook Investments, a technology distribution company based in Highlands Harare which also handles the local franchise for Toshiba. As the unit handling Kramer Electronics’ Zimbabwean centre, Vidovic shares the enthusiasm that Kramer has for the local market which is teeming with opportunity.
He mentioned that the regional distributor arrangement put in place by Kramer is common for entities with a global reach and was not meant to muscle out current distributors of AV technology. It instead will provide them with additional support for a brand that is synonymous with high quality and product longevity.
Kramer Electronics’ Zimbabwean outfit will not be interfacing with retail clients, but instead will provide all the necessary support to AV technology distributors that handle their own portfolios of clients and distribute the best possible AV solutions to them.
Vidovic believes Kramer will carve out a strong place in the market thanks to the reputation that it has built as a premium AV technology firm which has superior product quality in the face of competition that has limited warranty and a less exhaustive Research and Development focus.
This pits Kramer against a slew of brands that have entered not only the AV space but consumer electronics as well while riding on the strength of a “cheap and affordable” campaign. In a market like Zimbabwe where cost cutting is the buzzword among entities that invest in such technology, these providers have emerged as popular technologies.
By Vidovic’s own estimation, the cost of Kramer Electronics products, which are more expensive than those from competitors like Huawei and ZTE, is in tandem with their lifespan as well as ease of use, something that he believes any informed buyer in the AV market will agree with.
It brings in the debate of high quality and premium price versus affordable products with a lower stamp on quality, something that Vidovic believes Kramer Electronics has understood better than its competition in Audio Visual solutions.
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