Anixter Buys Tri-Ed

Poll:

As an integrator, ADI hasn't competed against us in bids and sales. Anixter has. One of the reasons we don't do business with Anixter. Now this is a reason not to do business with Tri-Ed. The low end may eventually fall to the box stores and online stores while mid to top tier products and installations may keep to the distributors that don't try to pander to the low end market.

I voted this as a "good move", but only for a purely tactical reason on Anixter's part.

They didn't need to buy Tri-Ed in order to target the low end of the market. Anixter could have just as easily cut their prices, or utilized Accu-Tech as the budget arm. I think Tri-Ed's holding company wanted to get rid of that business and Anixter snagged them just to keep ADI or someone else from doing so.

I don't see the distribution business having a lot of glamorous future. These days product demand and educated is handlied directly via online marketing. There was a time when a large proportion of distributor sales/order guys were seasoned (at least somewhat) and they would be the best practical outlet for advice on parts and products. These days I don't really see the same thing, you have a lot of people that have never actually worked in any outside capacity and they're regurgitating the same perspective you can get from a manufacturers website.

Distribution outlets are handy for integrators that don't want or need to stock a lot of product and spare parts. But it's silly to think that distributors have a lot of influence in the broader market perspective. Sure they might get lucky and actually drive a project but it's more along the lines of "even a blind squirrel sometimes finds a nut".

This purchase is a good short-term move for Anixter. They'll pick up some business via Tri-Ed, and they'll probably be able to cut a LOT of duplicate jobs and consolidate some offices and locations. But we're not going to see Anixter (or any other similar distributor) suddenly emerge as a force in the industry.

One thing that sticks out to me as telling is the purchase price is less than a single year revenue. ($420M vs $570M)

Just how miserable are profits for security distributors anyway?

I think that this is a good move for Anixter.

We sell to both distributors and their business model is completely different. I think Anixter has a lot of difficulty with the traditional security dealers because of their lack of showrooms/counter sales and their reliance on phone sales only. This is completely different from Tri-ED/ADI where a dealer can walk in and have a coffee while buying 7 motion detectors, a door contact and a DSC panel.

This provides Anixter with a traditional security distribution presence, one that is firmly ensconced in the mass of dealers selling alarm/access/video.

Long-term, I think that Anixter will run the security business in parallel with their wire-and-cable businesses and not integrate them together at the branch level. I would not be surprised if Anixter folded their security specialists into the Tri-ed mix and renamed the whole thing "Anixter Tri-ed" (until the Tri-ed name disappears completely in a few years).

All-in-all a good move for Anixter and at a good price, too (considering the cost savings they will have once both organizations start cleaning house...)

Does the slammer reference pertain to them selling to trunk slammers? I've never used nor heard of them.

The best part about this is that Dropcam sold for $130M more. I know that these are two different busniess but that is still cool. I know we make fun of trunckslammers here but they are a healty part of the the ecosystem. Becuase they made security super cheap, that helped mature the industry and create truck slammer manfactures in China that can compete with bid greedy big manfactures.

What will happen with brand representations overseas from Tri-Ed? Will Anixter be able to sell them in all of their overseas branches?

I was thinking Security-R-Us would be a good new name.

This best analogy that comes to mind is a large grocery store chain buying a convenience store chain.

Yes, they both sell milk, soda, eggs, chips, diapers, and dog food, but two different strategies and delivery methods.

If you want to buy everything for a large Thanksgiving dinner, you go to the grocery store (Anixter). If you need a loaf of bread in a hurry, go to the corner quickie mart (Tri-Ed).

Typical deal for a maturing industry. Basically they preform no valuable product or service. No local stock. No local service. Once you see a decline on the number of feet on the street, then it will change to a more mfg to integrator modle. Lets ask Lenel how it owrks for them. How the market further fractures will be the telling blow.

Remember plug and play has its down side for integrators. These move are working for the benifit of the end user and mfg. Again this is just my opinion. Look at the consolidation of Camera companies and VMS mfg.

Eventually online purchases will prevail to be the bank for this industry.

We estimate that combined they will account for ~20% of security product sales in the US.

Of product sold thru distribution or overall?