El.italia: 45 years in the market with a start-up spirit!
Reaching 45 years in business is the perfect moment to reflect on everything we have been through together: the profound transformations of the 1980s and 1990s, the challenge of globalisation, the 2008 financial crisis, Covid, the great component shortage of 2021-22, right up to the geopolitical tensions that are now reshaping supply chains.
Each of these turning points put us to the test. As managers and entrepreneurs, we were all called upon to rethink our companies' strategies and business models, seeking the right balance between continuity and change, one that could safeguard both profitability and competitiveness.
Staying ahead of the wave: our strategy for 45 years
For 45 years, our strategy has been to stay ahead of the wave.
Rather than resting on our oars and waiting for the market to settle, El.italia has always responded to disruption by developing the very solutions our customers would need to weather each crisis and then return to growth.
The origins: from our first agencies to importing from the Far East
Back in 1981, Franco Giardinelli, our Sole Director, laid the foundations of the company by securing the Italian agencies for major brands such as Fischer Elektronik, Sparktronik, Taiway and Diptronics, becoming one of the first companies in Italy to import components from the Far East.
The 1980s and 1990s were rewarding years: promotion through national and international trade fairs drove growth in turnover and led to major contracts, such as supplying keypads and buttons for cutting-edge products, from Italtel's Pulsar landline phones to Esaote's compact ultrasound scanners, from Teuco's whirlpool baths to Honeywell printers.
From 2010: the shift towards value-added services
In 2010, with the arrival of Franco's son Mauro, El.italia's mission evolved from traditional distribution towards value-added "anti-crisis" services designed to safeguard our customers' supply chains. Partnerships with Chinese manufacturers opened up new business opportunities, the approach became market-oriented, and the offering broadened and diversified to meet customer needs.
From 2016, with Mauro Giardinelli as Sales Director, this evolution continued, accelerated by the pandemic and the shortage that followed. El.italia was not caught off guard: it could already rely on a network of more than 100 alternative suppliers and on an approach that puts the product, rather than individual brands, at the centre.
Today: a next-generation distributor
Today we position ourselves as a next-generation distributor, with a network of over 100 qualified alternative suppliers that enables us to resolve our customers' entire BOMs, supplying every family of components as a service that complements conventional list-price sales.
The name of this service is Next Gen Distribution: a single point of contact for every component, a single order for the whole BOM.
