Updated! Fort Worth, Texas — At least six members of the NATM Buying Corp. have been leveraging the specialty CE clout of the ProSource buying group through a recently created associate membership tier.
Under the new designation, a select number of NATM’s large regional dealers have been participating in ProSource’s audio, mobile, accessory and custom-integration programs as associate members, while maintaining their NATM affiliation and core vendor programs.
Participating in the new arrangement are ABC Warehouse, Abt Electronics, BrandsMart USA, Nebraska Furniture Mart, R.C. Willey and Video Only.
According to ProSource president/CEO Dave Workman, the agreements were forged between the group and each dealer individually. All of the membership pacts went into effect at the beginning of the year except for Abt, a past member of ProSource forerunner PRO Group, which established ties with Workman’s organization in 2014.
“Our goal has always been to focus on our core strengths and present our vendor partners with a clear alternative to the national retailers for growth and the introduction of new technologies to the consumer,” Workman noted.
The addition of the large regional chains dramatically increases ProSource’s sales heft, while giving the NATM dealers access to specialized product lines outside the purview of NATM’s core TV and appliance programs.
The arrangement, along with a more recent, formal alliance between the Nationwide Marketing Group and Home Technology Specialists of America (HTSA), indicates a need among dealers for more specialized CE assortments and services, and a willingness to build new, extra-group allegiances to access them.
ProSource is the specialty CE division of the $13 billion BrandSource buying group, born of the merger of PRO Group and BrandSource’s Home Entertainment Source (HES) arm. It represents over 500 retailers and customer integrators with cumulative sales of more than $4.5 billion.
Said Workman, “When you combine the existing momentum of new member growth across all classification of dealers within ProSource, and then add the additional buying power represented by our new associate members, we truly have become the largest and finest representation of CI and retail dealers in the nation.”
