GATES Summit: Consumer Channel Ready For �Transformation, Technology and Tomorrow�

First-time event champions retail channel in Southeast Asia; Keynote speakers COURTS, ELECTROLUX and INTEL stress the power of customer experience

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BANGKOK, THAILAND /
SINGAPORE - Media OutReach - 26 March 2019 - GATES
Consumer Channel Summit, Southeast Asia concludes at the Centara Grand Ladprao in
Bangkok with over 250 top executives from the consumer technology industry. In just its first year, GATES
Summit brought together leading channel partners from 10 countries across the
region for over 1200 pre-scheduled 1-on-1 meetings with senior executives from
international technology brands.

Ben Tan, CEO at Courts (Singapore), speaks at GATES SUmmit

 

GATES Summit was supported by ETERNAL ASIA, KONCEPT C and
TOSHIBA as Platinum Sponsors; PHILIPS and PROMATE as Gold Sponsors; and DIVOOM, MY FIRST and STM as Silver Sponsors. Singapore’s
leading technology trade promotion association, SG TECH, supported a delegation of Singapore-based brands to meet
Southeast Asia’s top retail channel partners at GATES Summit.

 

GfK MARKET
INSIGHTS served as Knowledge Partner and opening
keynoter at GATES Summit. Events partners also speaking at the conference
included COURTS, ELECTOLUX and INTEL. Dr. Alok Bharafwaj, Managing Director at CREOVATE TRANSFORMATION and moderator
of the panel discussion, summed up the common themes of the summit:
“transformation, technology and tomorrow.”

 

Ben Tan,
Country CEO at COURTS Singapore, said in his keynote address: “Today’s consumer
expects the best of both worlds, speed and experience, and we aim to deliver
the best of all platforms. Physical and online stores are both important. The
challenge is how to integrate both channels seamlessly.”

 

Organizers of the 3-day event expressly focused on
Southeast Asia’s burgeoning consumer technology channel, inviting the
retailers, etailers and distributors who specialize in serving these markets.
In addition to a showcase of innovative products and solutions targeting the
business channel, the GATES conference program aimed to address their critical
information needs.

 

The panel discussion, titled “Top Channel Voices,” featured senior
executives debating the challenges and opportunities for Southeast Asia’s
channel partners. “Technology and information are making the customer more powerful,”
said Doan Viet Dung, CEO at ShopDunk (Vietnam), who stressed the importance of maximizing the
in-store experience. Ajay Mohan, Marketing Director at Intel, stated it more directly: “Customer experience is the new brand!”

 

Ashish
Kapahi, Executive Director at GATES, said: “There is real power in partnership. All channel
executives who took part in the panel discussion referenced, in some way, the
need to work together to solve problems and build win-win relationships. This was
undoubtedly a main theme at the GATES conference in our first year, and it
demonstrates just how important our platform will be for the channel community
moving forward.”

 

GATES GIVES INNOVATORS AN EDGE

GATES Summit provided a springboard for
new-to-market vendors to expand their retail reach. Participating exhibitors PADMATE, KOKOON and SILENTMODE
all completed successfully crowdfunding campaigns in the past year and used
GATES to build out their distribution channels now that they are “ready for
retail.” Padmate was ranked as most-backed and most-funded tech product on
Indiegogo in 2018, raising over US$ 3.3 million.

 

Rickey
Xiong, Sales
Director at Padmate, says: “We
have backers from more than 130 countries for PaMu Scroll. Now we are setting
up retail channels to reach customers in stores, with a great product and with
affordable price. At Padmate, we will continue to lead the way and plan a
series of new launches in 2019.”

 

GATES
SMART PITCH provided vendors an opportunity to
deliver a 90-second elevator pitch for their latest product or solution on
stage. This informative and entertaining session featured three awards, with
winners chosen in real-time through electronic voting by the audience of
channel partners.

SMART PITCH Best Design: UB+

SMART PITCH Best Innovation: Promate

SMART PITCH Game Changer: Mobile Pixels

SMART PITCH Best Presentation: My First

 

GATES hosted the prestigious ICT Industry Excellence Awards 2019 at the Gala Dinner. Through
live electronic voting, channel partners recognized vendors for their
exceptional channel performance in Southeast Asia over the past year. The GATES Gold Awards honored participating
vendors at the event. Award winners include:

 

ICT INDUSTRY EXCELLENCE AWARDS

1. DELL was
   voted COMPUTING Vendor of the Year
2. APPLE was
   voted SMARTPHONE Vendor of the Year
3. APPLE was
   voted DIGITAL LIFESTYLE Vendor of the Year
4. SAMSUNG was recognized for MARKETING EXCELLENCE
5. SAMSUNG was honored for OUTSTANDING OVERALL PERFORMANCE

 

GATES GOLD AWARDS

6. PROMATE was
   voted MULTICATEGORY vendor
7. PROMATE was
   voted ACCESSORIES & PERIPHERALS vendor
8. UB+ was
   voted AUDIO vendor
9. TUCANO was
   voted CASE, BAGS & PROTECTORS vendor
10. PROMATE was voted top INNOVATOR among vendors
11. OAXIS was
    voted GAMING & GADGETS vendor
12. WD was
    voted HARDWARE vendor

GATES Consumer Channel Summit, Southeast Asia was held 20-22 March 2019 at the
Centara Grand Ladprao in Bangkok. For more information, visit www.thegates.biz and follow on Twitter @GATES_Summit

About GATES APAC Pte. Ltd.

A leader in industry channel ecosystems, GATES helps facilitate accelerated
go-to-markets for organizations across Technology Verticals through strategy
and sales. Based in Singapore, GATES has built an extensive network of channels
in the APAC region, addressing some of the fastest growing markets in the
world. GATES hosts events including CONSUMER CHANNEL SUMMIT (retailers,
etailers and specialist distributors) for Southeast Asia and BUSINESS CHANNEL
SUMMITS (system integrators, resellers and value added distributors) for
Indonesia, India and Vietnam.