SYDNEY: To boost sales this Christmas, IT and consumer electronics accessories company, Laser, is the latest to offer a huge consumer incentive.

Between 3 November and 31 January 2009, Laser is giving one consumer the chance to win a million dollars and 10 runners up will each receive a portable GPS unit.

The offer is on all products in its range, which includes portable audio, GPS, optical media and notebook accessories.

“In a time of such financial uncertainty, we at Laser thought about what people would most need in the current economic climate. The answer was financial security — a million dollars certainly helps with that,” said Laser’s marketing communication executive, Nerissa Groenewoud.

“For our retailers the million dollar promotion not only drives demand but gives resellers an opportunity to increase sales and improve margin opportunities on attach sales or bundle offers.”

This year LASER is giving end users the chance to win a million dollars. This promotion will run from the 3rd of November 2008 to the 31st of January 2009. The consumer simply purchases any LASER product during the promotional dates and registers on line at www.laserco.com.au.

The draw will be held on the 13th of February 2009 where one lucky winner will win the chance to win a million dollars. 10 runner-up’s will win a Navig8r M35 GPS. POS material such as A2 posters, stickers, shelf strips, counter cards, product tags, entry pads and more are available now. Ask your account manager for more information.

This month LASER launched the Navig8r M35 Portable GPS. The “M Series” GPS line is the first-ever locally developed GPS created exclusively for Australians. With 4GB of mapping data the Navig8r M Series has Australia’s most accurate maps, based on Australia wide council data, that literally takes you door to door in city and rural areas alike.

With locally developed text-to-speech capabilities created specifically for Australian users, the Navig8r M Series use Australian accents that can actually pronounce Australian street names and places. Together with a choice of recognisable Australian map styles or ‘skins’, such as UBD© and Ausway© ‘style’ map displays, the Navig8r M Series promises Australians the most familiar and Aussie tailored GPS experience on the market.

Other stand-out features include a full screen speedo, trip statistics page, ‘Easy Re-Route’ and ‘Detour’. The M Series GPS units can also be easily updated over the internet. Available in 3.5” or 4.3” screen sizes.

For the third year running LASER is excited to be bundling Norton Internet Security with a growing range of product lines. The new and improved 2009 Norton Internet Security (NIS 09) promises much faster performance, pulse updates and is intelligence driven. With this increased range of products resellers will see even better rates with the NIS 09 subscription. Expect to see NIS 09 soon on products such as DVD’s, CD’s, Flash, input devices, PC accessories and laptop bag bundles. Ask your account manager for more information.

Synnex has broadened its accessories portfolio through a new distribution agreement with Australian vendor, Laser.

Synnex CEO, Kee Ong, said Laser offered a good range of PC accessories that complemented it current product line-up.

“Laser has a very broad range of products and we’ll be taking it at one step at a time,” he said.

“We’re starting off by distributing their accessories and then we’ll move on to their navigation products."

The broad-based distributor will aim the range at its retail and reseller channel, Ong said. Synnex joins Ingram Micro in Laser’s master distribution line-up.

Laser managing director, Chris Lau, said it had been growing in the local market and required more representation in the dealer and retailer channels.

“Synnex has large warehouse facilities in every state and can create value-add bundles from its range of vendors, therefore creating a good point of difference for our resellers,” he said.

“Our product range has been growing and our customer base has expanded. It’s also about putting the customer first and allowing them to have a choice of distribution partners, which we support equally."

In August, Synnex opened up a new warehouse in Perth. The distributor also announced its intentions to expand its Sydney and Melbourne locations.

LASER is proud to announce the launch of Australia’s first and only GPS for Dummies – navigation the fun and easy way. With the world’s most user-friendly interface with the easiest and most intuitive features, the GPS for Dummies PND is available at ‘best-value’ prices. The GPS for Dummies is ideal for first time PND users or those people requiring a GPS with all the features but not all the fuss. It is fully equipped with text to speech, the latest 2008 Australian Maps by Navteq, safety camera alerts and a bevy of Multimedia functions including MP3 player, picture and movie viewer. It‘s streamlined design makes it a perfect fit for car, backpacks and purses.

For the third year running LASER has brought a little happiness to unwell kids at the Sydney Children’s Hospital Randwick with Canteen. Canteen is a non profit organization for Young People Living with Cancer. This year LASER donated our groovy MP3 players to all the children – helping put some smiles on their faces.

LASER is proud to announce the appointment of TODAYTECH as a master distributor for the Dealer channel in Victoria. The appointment will see TODAYTECH distribute a range of LASER products to specialist IT resellers and system integrators from June 2008. The partnership with TODAYTECH starts with the transition of Victorian resellers, with total account migration completed by August 1. “The alliance will provide our current reseller partners with the great range of products they know and now, a distribution network with fast deployment and full support,” Coluan La (Dealer Account Manager).

Alex Johnson of Darlinghurst NSW received the call that thousands of Australians were hoping for; informing him that he was the proud owner of a brand new Suzuki Swift valued at $18000. LASER’s win a Suzuki Swift competition started November last year and ended 31st of January. Australian consumers were invited to enter the competition by purchasing specially marked LASER products and entering on line. Products, included the funky MiniMate lightweight MP3 player, the Navig8r GPS (models L35 and L43), USB Flash drives( 1-8 GB), Notebook bundles, 50 spindle DVD+/-R, and the popular range of LASER Digiframe. Alex said that he had long been a LASER fan and was wrapped with the win. 50 lucky contestants around Australia also received a Navig8r GPS device each valued at $299. Over all, the competition was a great success which saw a large increase of people buying LASER products through our retail channels.

As LASER entered its 6th year in partnership with Ingram Micro, we also celebrated 6 years of exhibiting at Ingram Micro’s ExpoTech. With an all new show stand at Expotech Sydney on the 18th of March. The stand received a great response - standing out from the crowd and showcasing our new product range with particular focus on our new MP3/4 range and Navig8r GPS. It also gave the new members of our growing sales team a chance to meet customers and partners

The annual Leading Edge conference held at the end of March 2008 was another great success. Spanning over four days, LASER offered not only great deals specific to the show, but also gave away showbags and a back massage for the weary. Highlights of the conference included the bowling night, gala affair and plenty of one on one time with LEC members.

Mini Mate
The latest addition to the MP3 players is light weight and only 46mm by 31 mm. This smart compact player also comes in 5 dazzling colours, with 1 or 2GB flash memory. It has an FM tuner, 7 mode equalizer, USB 2.0 interface microphone for notetaking and a two toned LCD screen. This specked up mini model is ideal for use while exercising or just everyday wear.

Digiframe
Following on the back of our sell out success of the Laser 7” photo frame, Laser introduced two new products to this portfolio. The 10” Digiframe is a true digital device that produces super clear images. With inbuilt speakers, 512 on board memory, multi card reader, multiple mounting options, remote control, attractive design and amazing value for money, its success was inevitable. The economy 7” Digiframe also received attention as it gave balance to this growing LASER range.

In the last quarter of 2007, LASER entered the highly competitive market of GPS, with the new brand Navig8r. From Navig8r’s conception through to distribution in stores, the team at LASER put in a massive effort to ensure that the Navig8r was launched before Christmas. The Navig8r entered the market as an unknown, but has enjoyed much success with huge sales and large market share. This success ensures that Navig8r will continue as an evolving product in the GPS market. This continuation will mean great margins for our customers with quality value for money for the end user. For more information on Navig8r go to www.navig8r.com.au

Every year LASER supports the special children’s Christmas party. This worthy cause brings a little joy to the Special Needs children of NSW. These children, aged from 6 months to 15 years of age, range from seriously ill, to the intellectually and physically challenged, to disadvantaged children. This year over 5000 children attended, where generous donations and volunteer’s from around Australia ensured that these special children had a very special day. Fun rides and games, exceptional shows including Humphery B Bear, baby animals and lots of food and drink were the main attractions and with every child receiving a show bag with meaningful toys - it was a wonderful day and a very special occasion that LASER was proud to be part of.

This year to help our resellers drive sales of LASER products, Laser Corporation is giving away a Suzuki Swift and 50 Navig8r GPS devices – a total prize pool value of $34,000! The promotion will run from
Nov 5th until 31st of January and covers the 3 major selling periods – Christmas, Boxing Day specials and back to school January.
End Users can enter the competition by buying any promotional marked Laser product and registering their details on our website; www.laserco.com.au. A range of exciting in store point of sale material will also be installed by our field merchandisers at participating retail outlets to bring awareness to the end-user. But there’s more…. Not only do end users get the chance to win a Suzuki Swift (or one of 50 navig8r GPS products) but all purchasers of specially marked LASER product are eligible to a bonus 60 day introductory subscription to 2008 Norton Internet Security.

Laser Corporation is proud to introduce the Navig8r range of Portable Navigation Devices (PND). Our new range of Navig8r PND GPS products features the latest Australian map coverage by Navteq and unparalleled ease of use software from Nokia Gate 5. Features include super bright anti reflective screens, MP3/4 multimedia player, long life Li-Ion batteries, Bluetooth connectivity and text to speech function to name a few. The Navig8r range launches with two GPS units, international maps and an accessory pack.
The L35 has a 3.5” LCD screen and is amazing value for money at $299RRP. The L43 has a 4.3” LCD screen and includes Bluetooth phone connectivity, ROADSENSE alerts for red light / speed cameras as well as a handy text to speech function which means street names and directions are spoken. Optional Accessories for the Navig8r range includes North American or European Maps on SD card as well as an accessory pack - which is perfect for a second car

Optima (ASX:OPI) is Australia’s largest PC manufacturer supplying the likes of Government, education, corporate and small business. Over the past year, LASER’s business with Optima has increased dramatically in line with LASER’s renewed focus on the SI Channel. Gary Cai, sales executive for the Optima account, comments that “It’s great to know that the effort we put into partners such as Optima
is rewarded not only in sales volume but in helping Australian business compete in a tier 1 dominated market… we are happy to support local business”.

July saw the opening of a new Good Guys store in Bathurst, which is located in country NSW with a population of over 37,000. The store was impressive with a fantastic range of products.
LASER staff were on hand to support the store opening with a product demonstration stand, balloons
and show bags. Customers showed interest in our Flash Drives and V10’s as many first time visitors to the store took in the vast range of Laser products. We look forward to a continuing great relationship with TGG Bathurst and wish
them the best of luck.

2006 saw Optical media sales continue to increase with the expected stabilization of growth in Q1 of 2007 (IT markets insight 1Q 2007). The market has seen some large changes during the past year, with many unbranded players being forced out of the market and one of the larger brands consolidating two other branded players. Whilst these changes have taken place LASER optical media has consistently held the number 3 or 4 position in DVD +/- R media, with market share reaching as much as 11% in some months. The coming year will see our new HD format media as well as more value add bundles to add to our already extensive line up.

Our Shenzhen office has moved to a bigger space. Shenzhen is one of the best locations in China as it is the centre of China’s booming electronics industry. LASER’s expanded operations means that we can bring to market the latest, most competitive and widest range of products. We would encourage any of our customers who visit Shenzhen to drop in for a chat and check out our grand showroom and operations centre located in the CBD of Shenzhen city.

Harvey Norman Moore Park NSW -one of the biggest stores in the group, has ranged LASER products for more than two years now. Following a successful trial period they found that LASER product sold extremely well with excellent retail margins. A big contributor to the successful relationship was reported to be the product range, in-store merchandising, POS material and excellent sales support. To get your share sales pumping, Please call one of our sales merchandisers

Many of our customers are aware that LASER has the capability to help create house branded products. This is a very powerful offer which many of our retail partners have been enjoying for a long time. With our factories in China and our in-house packaging, design and product compliance team LASER can help you bring to market your own branded product. It’s not as hard as you may think.. if you have interests in private label, please don’t hesitate to call our sales team to discuss further.

Driving Growth in the Dealer Channel As our long standing customers would know LASER Co. has it’s foundations in the dealer channel so we will be working hard this financial year to improve efforts with our reseller partners. Some of these efforts include increased store visits, structured price lists, co-operatives advertising support and more value add bundles. By applying proven strategies we have learned from the retail sector we hope to improve the sales opportunities and margins for our channel partners.

We at LASER know the importance of families and of children. At a recent charity event LASER donated MVP portable music players to children from the RANDWICK CHILDREN’s HOSPITAL and to CANTEEN - the Australian Organization for Young People Living with cancer. We hope that our contribution helps make these childrens lives a little nicer.

Excuse the cliché but at this year’s show we really were ‘bigger and better than ever’.. Our team put in a fantastic effort to help ensure our most successful CeBIT show to date. There was a lot of interest and patronage at our stand, especially for our new products and the soon to be released lines. Our lucky draw was a huge hit and we send our congratulations to all the winners. Our sales team will be in touch with the vast numbers of respondants who attended our stand, so for all you resellers out there, be prepared.

The much anticipated 2007/08 LASER catalogue has been completed and will soon be distributed to all our customers. This catalogue shows our latest range of products including: the Groove Mate series - the latest in our portable music players; The Noteguard series - a vertical extension in our notebook accessories range which offers more style, comfort and greater protection. And our exciting range of gaming accessories - a new portfolio that offers the consumer a large range of great quality accessories at an affordable price.

We are happy to announce XIT as a key distributor for the QLD region. Located in Windsor (QLD’s silicone valley) XIT customers enjoy access to their large showroom, personalised friendly service and huge range.

Talk to XIT on 07 38665000

We have recently joined forces with My Net Fone(ASX:MNF),to provide a USB VoIP phone complete with FREE $10 call credit .With a large LCD screen and mobile phone-style keypad, the Laser USB VoIP phone is easy to install and use. Simply download the free softphone from www.mynetfone.com.au, plug your new VoIP phone into a USB port on your PC or laptop, activate your account and start calling. There are no complicated hardware drivers to load – just plug and play. RRP = $39.95