A local company, CIPS Electronics/Jaycar, has become the first Pacific Island reseller company to win the Australia/New Zealand and Pacific Islands Reseller of the Year award 2023-2024.

The latest win is a major milestone for the company, which has been a three-time winner of the New Zealand and Pacific Reseller of the Year Award in previous years.

The award ceremony was held in Australia where 160 resellers from across Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific were nominated.

CIPS Electronics/Jaycar store manager, Daniel Ahau, reminisced on their humble beginnings where they started off in a little shoebox shop 12 years ago.

“I suppose all credit and thanks goes out to our customers who have been buying from us but also to our staff who helped lift the brand and name,” Ahau said.

“Just receiving this award itself speaks volumes for our customers that we have here in the Cook Islands and the staff that we employ and how they come across this sale, service and support.

“We are the first Pacific Island country to win, no one in the Pacific Island wins really when it comes to this award so we were pretty stoked to win.”

High ratings were noted for ordering, buying, shop cleanliness, clear layout., attractive merchandising, customer service, and so forth.

Two other retailers from Papua New Guinea and Fiji were vying for the prize from the region.

CIPS Electronics/Jaycar opened in 2012 and within a year claimed their first New Zealand and Pacific Islands Reseller Award in 2013, the second in 2015/16, and the third one in 2019.

The brand is geared towards component merchandise such as TV aerials and plugs, resistors, wiring, cabling and more.

Meanwhile, Ahau stressed that by winning the award, the company is enthusiastic about focusing on more improvement.

He said they are also looking at hiring more staff.

“Watch this space I suppose is what we usually say. It’s an honour to win this award and just to be named in front of the other 160 resellers, some of them never heard of us before, where Cook Islands is, definitely put us on the map,” Ahau said.

“We’re networking with all other resellers, finding out what is working for them, what’s not working, what’s trending, and hopefully we’ll lift our profile and touch base with those guys and keep them working further.”