Competitive Position

According to information of the Federal Statistical Office, approximately 65,000 IT companies that differ greatly in terms of size, service spectrum, and specialisation offered their products and services in Germany in the reporting year 2008. Most of these companies merely operate on a local scale and seldom exceed annual revenues of 5 million euros. According to the Federal Statistical Office, the group of medium-sized IT companies with annual revenues of approximately 50 to 250 million euros comprises about 200 companies. Only about 10 to 15 companies, including Bechtle, are on the list of larger system houses that are active in Germany.

Bechtle has an excellent market position

In Germany, Bechtle enjoys an excellent market position. According to the professional ChannelPartner media platform, Bechtle ranks second among vendor-independent German system houses in terms of the domestic revenue and is far ahead of the lower-ranking companies. The competitive strength is even more important than the revenue figure. According to a survey ChannelPartner conducted among German system houses for the purpose of identifying the most significant competitors, Bechtle was the most frequently mentioned company.

In another independent survey of the specialised magazines ChannelPartner and Computerwoche, user companies elected Bechtle AG as the most customer-friendly system house in 2008 in the category of companies whose annual revenues exceed 250 million euros. The participants rated the overall quality of Bechtle’s work as “good”, thereby acknowledging the performance of Bechtle AG. Almost 1,700 projects were evaluated in the three-week online survey. Among other things, the questions focused on the quality of the offer of the selected system house. The quality of the project roll-out was determined on the basis of statements about the project management, communication, reaction times, and competency. Adherence to deadlines, a good price/performance ratio, and the support after the completion of the project (maintenance, training, etc.) also formed part of the basis for the rating.

According to its own information, Bechtle is the market leader in the system house business in Switzerland. In the reporting period, Bechtle AG entered the Austrian market by means of acquisitions. While small and medium-sized businesses jointly account for the largest market share in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, it is obvious that especially medium-sized providers are trying to consolidate their activities by means of mergers and acquisitions, and large providers are expanding their market position at the cost of the smaller providers.

In the IT e-commerce segment, the group considers its market position to be outstanding in Germany and Switzerland and stable in the other European countries.