Fashion Elite

In his 18 months at Wembley-based Elite Mobile, sales and marketing director Barry Nash has seen some changes in his surroundings  the distributor of PAYG handset accessories is practically on top of the Wembley Stadium development.

However, while the UK ‘s premier sporting venue has run aground, Elite is on track in its strategy to move away from a simple import-export box-shifter to a strong, flexible player in the UK mobile market with a multitude of channels. Or so Nash claims.
Nash has a long tour of duty in the mobile phone world under his belt, with time at Ericsson and Vodafone service providers Talkland and Generation Telecom.
He joined Elite in April 2005 with a remit to strengthen and develop the distributor ‘s relationships with the networks, extend partnerships with handset manufacturers and create new channels through non-mobile specialists, as well as continuing to work with independent dealers.
It ‘s a tall order and although perhaps all of those goals may not have come as quickly as Nash would have hoped, he ‘s justifiably proud of the successes he has had and is very optimistic for the future.
Network objectives
On the networks side, Elite now has relationships with 3, T-Mobile and Vodafone. Back in December last year, Nash said his goal was to be with all of the networks by this year. With only two months to go, it would be ambitious to think that Nash can get Orange and O2 on board by the end of 2006. However, he is not deterred.
We are happy that our relationship with the networks is developing at the rate that it is, says Nash. It may not be until next year that we have all of them onboard, but that is still our objective.
This optimism runs through Nash ‘s take on the past 18 months. He doesn ‘t recall coming up against any major challenges in that time, other than the task he was appointed to do.
I ‘m fortunate that there was already a very strong team here in place when I arrived, he says. The challenge has been maximising those strengths and setting up the new non-specialist channels to become a major player in the sector. Once we ‘ve achieved this, we need to spread the message that we ‘ve been successful. To set up in people ‘s minds that Elite is the place to go for great products.
Undeniably, Elite has made some interesting developments in its product portfolio. The distributor already has existing accessory partnerships with Motorola and Sony Ericsson. Its only direct handset relationship is with BenQ. With the UK division going into administration, this could well be Nash ‘s big challenge. He says that he is in talks with other handset manufacturers, but none of them are at the stage where he can name names.
On the positive side, Elite has had some success with the launch of a cheap-and-cheerful off-board SatNav unit
from Swedish manufacturer Apello called Navig8. In six months, the distributor has grown the portfolio of handsets that will run with the unit from 24 to 80. More significantly, it has signed up BT to supply the unit for the Telco ‘s corporate, enterprise and consumer customers.
Elite now also supplies the CarTrek 400 onboard SatNav system.
Other product developments highlight Elite ‘s firm commitment to the consumer market, in the face of a great deal of the independent sector focusing more on B2B.
The distributor has sourced a number of A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile) Bluetooth products for the consumer market. The technology is optimised for products such as wire-free headsets and speakers for phones and iPods.
ì la mode mobiles
The real feather in Nash ‘s cap though has to be a deal with New York fashion designer Nicole Miller for a range of mobile phone accessories. Miller ‘s creations are more well known for adorning such Hollywood celebrities as Jennifer Aniston, Angelina Jolie, Paris Hilton, Kim Cattrall, Daryl Hannah and Halle Berry. Four phone cases have been announced as an autumn collection and Nash hopes to make the the range available through multiple channels by Christmas.
The relationship with Nicole Miller has given us the opportunity to develop a fashion range, he says. It ‘s a normal evolution for the independent retail channels as well as the high street. We ‘ll be pushing the range through the independent channel from November. It will be available on the high street in the run-up to Christmas, but it ‘s a seasonal brand, so there will be different ranges for each fashion season of the year.
Elite will be producing its own fashion phone accessory catalogue for the channel by the fourth quarter of 2007.
And why all of this emphasis on consumer-oriented product? Primarily Nash was appointed to broaden Elite ‘s customer base and in this he appears to be successful. He has concentrated on non-specialist retail organisations for which the catalogue is, if not the only channel to market, then a central part of their business model. His current non-specialist partners are catalogue companies Empire and Grattan, plus high-street stalwarts Argos and Comet.
Nash is keen to stress, of course that the independent dealer channel is still a strong part of Elite ‘s strategy and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future.
It ‘s still an exciting marketplace, he
says. There is a lot of change, but its still growing.”