Romanian IT&C products distributor FiT Distribution, which also operates the PCfun.ro online store, estimates the "back to school" season will double the average monthly sales of IT&C retailers.

"The promotions for the 'back to school' season are expected to double the average monthly sales on this market," Traian Cristea, general manager of FiT Distribution and of PCFun. ro told ZF. " A significant volume is generated, not only on the segment of household users, but to a great extent also by users among the medium-size companies. This year we also have significant hardware-related changes, which will bring significant cost cuts to infrastructure maintenance if they are adopted quickly, and which can lead to significant acquisitions by companies that are major IT consumers," explains Cristea.

FiT Distribution, 100% owned by former Flanco head Marius Ghenea, estimates it will this year post turnover worth 10 million dollars (some 7.8 million euros), an approximately 40% increase against last year, when turnover stood at 7 million dollars (5.63 million euros). "Although in the first half of the year the market did not see a spectacular rise against last year, FiT Distribution did post approximately 30% growth. Provided that we see a similar trend from now on, we estimate turnover worth 10 million dollars for 2006 and a higher growth rate for next year, with a significant share of the growth depending on the online segment trend," Cristea says. He added that the "distribution of IT products remains the most significant segment for FiT Distribution's turnover and profit. In the medium term, we expect a balance to be reached between sales on the online segment and the distribution of new ranges of products, which we intend to add to our portfolio".

The FiT Distribution representative specified that profit margins resulting from IT distribution have se