Due to increased demand in the major hubs of Cape Town and Durban and their respective outlying areas, Consolidated Electrical Distributor (CED) decided in 2022 that it was time to open standalone branches in those regions to ensure that sufficient stock holdings are always readily available.
CED serves South Africa’s low voltage electrical industry, with a vision to become the benchmark of quality products and customer service. Expanding from humble beginnings in 2012, its portfolio now includes over 6000 fully compliant local and international products that are used across the domestic, commercial, and industrial sectors.
The Durban branch, which opened in November 2022, is located on North Coast Road just off the main highway, and the Cape Town branch, which went live this past January, can be found in Montague Gardens. Both branches feature a warehouse and office component as well as a physical showroom. “The branches have sufficient staffing in terms of warehouse, internal sales and external sales,” explains Richard Egenrieder, CED general manager. “We focused on hiring the right staff who have experience in the low voltage sector, and both branch managers are well known in the regions and respected by the clients.”
With products exceeding their expected growth, especially the Tuson Lux brand, Egenrieder sees it as testament to the company’s decision to import economically viable brands at a quality which the market is looking for. “I grew up with the ‘South African way’ of service and support which seems to have been lost with a lot of suppliers, and I'm adamant to offer the kind of service which South Africans were once known for, ensuring that customers are kept up-to-date and not misled in terms of lead times. It takes a lot more work in the background, but I think that is a testament as to why we are growing as quickly as we are,” he says. Yet this could be just the start as Egenrieder notes that future growth is “imminent”.
New catalogue and new brands on the horizon
Along with the new branches, CED is also currently working on a new, comprehensive catalogue which will be available this coming July. “We have had a number of requests from our customers for an updated catalogue, and due to the fact that we are distributing multiple brands, it can sometimes be quite confusing with five or six different catalogues,” he says. “So, what we're putting together is a compact, easy-to-use catalogue which will list the majority of the brands that we distribute and make it really simple for the likes of panel builders, OEMs and wholesalers to quickly identify a product and place an order with us.” The catalogue will be available in both print and electronic versions, and the company’s goal is to make its customer’s buying practices a lot simpler.
Egenrieder has also been hard at work in terms of finding new brands that do not have a presence in South Africa, and the catalogue will be the perfect opportunity to announce these new partnerships.
Furthermore, CED has recently entered the renewable energy sector and offers a full complement of switchgear, including isolators, surge protection, indicator lights, fuses, fuse holders, battery fuse disconnectors, MC4 connectors and the like. “We are basically offering all the components excluding the panels,” says Egenrieder. “More importantly it is a one brand solution, which is very rare in the renewable market at this current point in time.”
In a very short period of time, CED have established themselves as a strong player in the industry, and the current growth which the company is experiencing is showing no signs of abating. With new branches, new brands and a new catalogue on the way, the company is living up to its vision to become the benchmark of quality products and customer service.
Enquiries: www.cedsa.co.za
