The inaugural Stockies took place at the end of November, a new concept in awards ceremonies in the channel, where winners were based on empirical data rather than a judging panel.
There was a vibrant mood at Heddon Street in London on November 30 when the great and good in the channel converged for the first Stock in the Channel Awards Winners After-Party.
The Stock in the Channel Awards – better known as the ‘Stockies’ – which were headline sponsored by Canon, are different to other awards ceremonies: there was no judging panel or lengthy application process, which can be subjective, it was all based on empirical data from Stock in the Channel and every vendor and distributor on there was automatically entered, so there was no denying that all the winners were well deserving of their prize. The nominees should also take credit too for their outstanding performance over the year.
The sold-out Winners After-Party event followed a virtual awards show earlier in the week, which had a range of sponsors revealing the nominees and winners – including the editor of News in the Channel – which revealed the distributors, vendors and products that had been successful in the categories that spanned the breadth of the channel.
The list of winners are featured elsewhere in the issue (see p51) – congratulations to all that won, and those that were nominated.
How it worked
As mentioned, the Stockies are different to other awards ceremonies as it was based on data produced from Stock in the Channel, which was mined and analysed by Stock in the Channel’s own expert data analysts. Various metrics were used to determine the winners of each category. For instance, market share and stock resilience were part of the consideration, as was ‘trending’ – the popularity of products in customer searches.
For product categories, relative market advantage was considered, as was things like product heat and trending in searches. With vendors, price stability and niche to mass coverage was also considered. For distributors, the sale to search rate was considered, as was product replenishment rate, among others.
Achievements celebrated
Some of the winners took to LinkedIn to celebrate their achievements. For instance, Xvantage triumphed in not one but two categories: Distributor Platform of the Year and Print and Scan Distributor of the Year. “The Distributor Platform of the Year award underscores our commitment to staying at the forefront of technological advancements, offering our reseller partners and vendors a seamless and transformational experience,” says Sara Horton, director business operations at Ingram Micro.
“Furthermore, winning the Print and Scan Distributor of the Year award highlights our excellence in providing smart solutions to our reseller partners, meeting their diverse needs in the evolving landscape.”
MB Technologies, which also took home an award posted: “Thank you Stock in the Channel for a fantastic evening.”
Alex Tatham from Westcoast said: “Most votes, most searches, most accurate and most popular. Westcoast Ltd are delighted to have won Overall Distributor of the Year at [the] excellent Stockies in Heddon Street, London. Thank you to Stock in the Channel and Canon for sponsoring. Very proud of our IT and Web teams in particular and one for front of the cabinet!”
Meanwhile, Alex Holdsworth, EMEA regional product manager at Zebra Technologies, posted: “WHAT AN EVENING!!! It was amazing attending our first Stock in the Channel #Stockies, and even better with the Zebra Technologies ZT411 winning the DC/POS Device of the Year.
“The ZT411 was the first printer launch I was involved with back in 2019, and I am delighted it thriving in the market four years later still!”
The party continued into the night, with those attending taking the chance to meet up with old friends – and make new ones – and relax and enjoy themselves after another year of hard work in the channel.
Quotes:
Dale Losely from Cablenet The Stockies was the best event we have attended – great location, great attendance, great atmosphere.
MB Technologies, which took home the Specialist Distributor of the Year award posted: Thank you Stock in the Channel for a fantastic evening.
Alex Holdsworth, EMEA regional product manager at Zebra Technologies, posted: WHAT AN EVENING!!! It was amazing attending our first Stock in the Channel #Stockies, and even better with the Zebra Technologies ZT411 winning the DC/POS Device of the Year.
Sara Horton, director business operations at Ingram Micro. The Distributor Platform of the Year award underscores our commitment to staying at the forefront of technological advancements, offering our reseller partners and vendors a seamless and transformational experience.
Alex Tatham from Westcoast Most votes, most searches, most accurate and most popular. Westcoast Ltd are delighted to have won Overall Distributor of the Year at [the] excellent Stockies in Heddon Street, London. Thank you to Stock in the Channel and Canon for sponsoring. Very proud of our IT and Web teams in particular and one for front of the cabinet!
Gary Organ from Canon Oh what a night…..late November back in ‘23. Stockies you did not fail to deliver. An innovative concept of a virtual awards followed by an awards celebration ‘street party style’ Its fair to say it was a huge success & we were extremely proud to be headline sponsors.
