Hello jphat,
Thank you for your question.
One source of information will come from the ERA, the Electronic
Representatives Association at http://www.era.org/ . On this page you
will find a Rep Locator.
Do note, that "some" regional electronic reps are not members of the
ERA by choice, however, in my experience, that is 10-15% of the
independent rep firms and by and large, most will appear on the ERA
lists.
Clicking the Rep Locator link, then the link to ERA Chapters will
bring you to a linked list of 34 geographical chapters of the ERA. All
of the areas you desire are listed here. For example, I clicked on
Southwest which brought me to a page informing me of the links and
directors for this chapter. I clicked on their web site address link,
www.erasw.org and was brought to their page where I found a button for
their membership list. There is also an additional button for
Manufacturers which produces an alphabetical list of manufacturers
represented in the territory and who is the representing firm with a
link to their contact information.
The ERA, however, may not provide you with reps for some of the
companies you seek.
Many manufacturers of sufficient size and sales volume do not use
independent representatives, but rather factory sales teams. Often,
you can visit their web site and look for their sales contacts by
region. Panasonic and Toshiba are two that come to mind that use a
captive sales force. There are many others. Sony, for an interesting
exception, will use factory people for some of their more commercial
divisions and independent reps for some of their more consumer
oriented gear.
Searching further, I found an excellent source of information for you
at http://www.electrobase.com/app/prod/eb/main.php , ElectroBase.com.
I clicked California, then Manufacturer's tab, then the letter J to
see what I could find about JVC, for example. The search page had both
a link to JVC and their Southern California rep, the Enright Company.
Clicking their link provided me with additional information about the
Enright Company and other lines they represent in their territory.
I repeated this with JBL Residential and found the information I
expected.
Again, staying in Southern California as this site seems to use
geographical location as its primary means of sorting data, I clicked
the product tab, then S for Speakers and visited that page. Here I
found http://www.electrobase.com/app/pi1797/niprd/wsprd__4371___ca , a
very thorough list of speaker manufacturers and links to finding their
reps.
There is also a vendor tab that is useful to search by manufacturer
name, and a Listings tab that leads to a Representative tab. Here you
can enter as little as one letter and generate a list of links to reps
in this territory by name. Inputting "A" brought a list of several
hundred Southern California Rep Firms that contain the letter A
anywhere in their name at
http://www.electrobase.com/app?navId=listdisplayvnd&VendorType=Rep&windowState=all_____all&vndName=a
.
You can narrow the list by being more specific, but unfortunately, a
wildcard character such as * did not product a complete listing of all
reps in their database. It appears you must be a member to access
further information from this page, or cross reference the results
with other tabs.
Electrobase has this to say about its services and purpose:
"The History of electrobase.com and Cobro Publishing
COBRO Publishing, Inc. is a privately held corporation based in
Lynnwood, Washington, USA Founded in 1983, COBRO published the first
sourcing directory in the Pacific Northwest for electronics buyers and
engineers. Currently published twice each year, the Northwest
Electronics Buyers Guide, or COBRO Book, is commonly called "my bible"
by buyers and engineers in the Pacific Northwest.
In the early 1990's, COBRO Book users began requesting computer-based
sourcing information. In early October 1995, the Windows® compatible
version of electrobase.com, the electronic version of the COBRO Book,
was previewed at Northcon/95, the regional electronics trade show in
Portland, OR. Beta testing and product refinement took place during
the fall and winter of 1995, and electroBASE was released on disk and
on CD-ROM in the Northwest in April, 1996.
Also during the fall and winter of 1995, COBRO Publishing was working
on electrobase.com, for users of the Internet, and introduced it to
the world in April, 1996. Use of the site has grown dramatically each
month since its debut, with hits currently averaging nearly one
million hits per month...
...electrobase.com
electrobase.com went online in April 1996 and is an online sourcing
directory of electronic distributors and manufacturers' reps and the
lines they carry. If you are familiar with popular print sourcing
guides like COBRO's Northwest Electronics Buyers Guide, the Electronic
Source Book, or EEM Local Sources, you will immediately understand how
electrobase.com works and why it is so popular with electronics buyers
and engineers.
Site listings on electrobase.com are updated at least weekly."
Although I could easily find the page to order their book or
subscription service, I could not find a mention of ordering their
CD-ROM. It may no longer be available. And although they seem to be
specific about NorthWest Buyer's Guide, their web page does seem to
cover the entire US.
The National Electrical Manufacturers Representatives Association is
online at http://www.nemra.org/ . Mote, this is "Electrical" rather
than "Electronic" and may not find the reps you are seeking. However
some may crossover into both areas of distribution and this may be
helpful in finding firms that deal with comapnies such as Home Depot
that were mentioned in your question.
Similarly, OPRA, the Office Products Representatives Association at
http://www.shopa.org/opra/ may lead to specialt rep firms covering
Staples, Office Max, Office Depot and the like. Their Manufacturer's
Represenataive Listing Page can be found here:
http://www.shopa.org/shopa_member_companies/member_companies.php?comptype=MR
You will also find a listing to Electronics Company Directories at
http://www.business2.com/webguide/0,1660,2238,00.html .
Here you will find helpful sites such as:
Electronics Manufacturers on the Internet - Includes White and Yellow
Pages
http://www.electronics-oems.com/homepage.html
Hoover's Online - Electronics Distribution
http://www.hoovers.com/industry/description/0,2205,8360,00.html
MultexInvestor - Companies in the Audio Video Equipment Industry
http://www.marketguide.com/mgi/industry.asp?ind=AUDVID&rt=&rn=industries
and others.
A CD-ROM of importers of this type might be of interest to you and is
available here:
http://www.importexporthelp.com/dircom11.htm
"CONSUMER ELECTRONICS IMPORTERS - AUDIO EQUIPMENT IMPORTERS - VIDEO
EQUIPMENT IMPORTERS - TELEVISION IMPORTERS - CD EQUIPMENT IMPORTERS
TRADE DIRECTORY
-------------------------------------------------------------
3,500 Consumer Electronics Importers - Audio Equipment Importers -
Video Equipment Importers - Television Importers CD Equipment
Importers List
International business trade directory features 3,500 consumer
electronics importers, audio equipment importers, video equipment
importers, television importers and CD equipment importers in 113
different countries importing video equipment, satellite receivers,
remote control equipment, microphones and headphones, electronic
musical instruments, electronic games, compact disc equipment, car
radios, CB antennas, etc... "
Although no one site will provide you with a single list, I trust
these resources will lead you to all the information you require. If
anything above is unclear, please do request clarification.
Search strategy:
consumer electronics representatives listing
electronic consumer products representative directory +USA OR US OR
"United States"
Regards,
-=clouseau=- |
