{"id":225985,"date":"2022-05-13T23:56:34","date_gmt":"2022-05-13T21:56:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/?p=115808"},"modified":"2022-05-13T23:56:34","modified_gmt":"2022-05-13T21:56:34","slug":"ex-incredible-connection-director-in-new-tech-retail-venture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/ex-incredible-connection-director-in-new-tech-retail-venture\/","title":{"rendered":"EX-incredible Connection Director In New Tech Retail Venture"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1 \">\n<aside id=\"republication_tracker_tool-2\" class=\"republication_tracker_tool clearfix\">\n<h5 class=\"adtitle\">Republish for Free<\/h5>\n<div class=\"license\">\n<p><button name=\"Republish This Story\" id=\"cc-btn\" class=\"republication-tracker-tool-button\">Republish This Story<\/button><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"license\" rel=\"noreferrer license noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Creative Commons License\" class=\"lazyload\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ex-incredible-connection-director-in-new-tech-retail-venture.png\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Creative Commons License\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ex-incredible-connection-director-in-new-tech-retail-venture.png\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"message\">\n<p>Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/aside>\n<p><b>Former Incredible Connection<\/b><span>&nbsp;executive director David Hirsch has launched a new retail venture specialising in refurbished technology.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The company, called <\/span><span>TechMarkIT<\/span><span>, is online only for now, but intends to open a retail store in Johannesburg next year \u2013 it is currently concluding lease discussions with a landlord, Hirsch said in an interview with TechCentral on Wednesday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Hirsch, who started his working career at Software Connection \u2013 the company that was once listed on the JSE and which would go on to become Incredible Connection \u2013 believes it\u2019s the right time to launch a retail proposition offering refurbishment tech gear to South African consumers. The company works with all major technology brands, including Dell, Lenovo, and Apple<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>For one thing, the weak rand has pushed up the cost of imported technology, while consumers are also under pressure due to the weak economy and the impact of the Covid-19 lockdowns, which has crimped their spending power.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Hirsch said that although consumers can buy <\/span><span>second-hand tech goods<\/span><span> through online classifieds websites, they are often reluctant to do so \u2013 they can\u2019t be sure they\u2019re not buying a dud, and there are security concerns when strangers have to meet to conclude a deal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Hirsch, who cut his cloth in the rough-and-tumble world of early technology retail \u2013 he established a buying office for Software Connection in New York in the 1990s \u2013 served as merchandising director for Incredible Connection. After Incredible Connection was bought out by JSE-listed JD Group, he headed up marketing and merchandising for JD.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>He said he hopes TechMarkIT will bring credibility to the used\/refurbished technology market in South Africa. The company checks all the products it sells for defects and other problems and also cleans them thoroughly before making them available for sale. It has a 45-point checklist to ensure everything is in working order, including the battery (if the product has one). If the battery is showing signs of age, it is replaced before being sold. There\u2019s a warranty of six months on goods sold, though this excludes battery-related problems.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Brands<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span>The company works with all major technology brands, including Dell, Lenovo and Apple, but avoids products from little-known brands. It also buys goods from distributors like Digital Planet and Tarsus for resale.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Hirsch hopes to appeal to first-time PC buyers, consumers who either can\u2019t afford a new PC or who are forced to buy one with very low-end specs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cYou can get a new, no-name brand [Intel] Celeron for R4 000, but for something decent it\u2019s very expensive.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Products that have proved popular so far include old-model iPhones and iPads as well as PCs and smartwatches.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Although online-only, for now, Hirsch said opening a physical store is a top priority. This is important, he said, because consumers feel much more comfortable buying second-hand or refurbished goods if they can see the goods in person and touch them before making a purchasing decision.&nbsp; \u2013 <\/span><i><span>\u00a9 2021 NewsCentral Media<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span>TechmarkIT sells used laptops, second-hand computers, and great new tech&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The original article was published at EX-incredible connection in new tech retail venture<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>This article was first published at EX-incredible connection in new tech retail venture<\/span><\/p>\n<p> <span class=\"post-views-icon dashicons dashicons-chart-bar\"><\/span> <span class=\"post-views-label\">Press Release Views:<\/span> <span class=\"post-views-count\">126<\/span> <\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\">Source: MyPR.co.za<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Republish for Free Republish This Story Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. Former Incredible Connection&nbsp;executive director David Hirsch has launched a new retail venture specialising in refurbished technology. The company, called TechMarkIT, is online only for now, but intends to open a retail store in Johannesburg next [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":225986,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3332,9021,1],"tags":[3257],"class_list":{"0":"post-225985","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-johannesburg-south-africa","8":"category-mypr","9":"category-south-africa","10":"tag-mypr","11":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/ex-incredible-connection-director-in-new-tech-retail-venture.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}