East Asia

Distributors, Resellers and System Integrators in East Asia: How Partner-Led Sales Work

By Paolo Petrolini · Published 2 Oct 2026 · 4 min read

Why partners sit in the middle

In the US an enterprise often buys software directly from the vendor. In Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, the customer usually buys from a company it already works with. That company implements the product, supports it in the local language and holds the contract.

For the customer this lowers risk. For you it means the partner's sales team decides how often your product is offered.

The types of partner

• System integrators. They build and run systems for enterprises and recommend the products that go into them. In Japan and South Korea these are often large firms, some of them owned by the big groups.
• Distributors. They import, localise and resell foreign products, often through a second tier of resellers.
• Value-added resellers. Smaller firms that sell and implement in a specific industry.
• Technology partners. Vendors whose products integrate with yours and who sell both together.
• Consultancies. They influence decisions even when they do not resell.

How to find the right one

1. Ask target customers who they buy similar products from.
2. Look at who represents non-competing foreign vendors in your category.
3. Ask your US technology partners which local firms they work with.
4. Meet candidates in person. A partner relationship in this region starts face to face.

How to choose

• Access. Do they sell to your target accounts today?
• Focus. Will your product be one of ten or one of five hundred?
• Skills. Can their engineers implement and support it?
• Commitment. Will they name the people and the first target customers?
• Conflict. Do they carry a competitor?

A mid-sized partner that makes you a priority usually outperforms a famous one that does not.

Structuring the agreement

• Exclusivity. Partners often ask for it. Limit it to one country, to named industries and to a fixed period, with sales targets that must be met to keep it.
• Margins. Partners need enough margin to invest in selling. Check what comparable vendors offer.
• Localisation. Agree who pays for translation and who owns it.
• Support. Define which issues the partner handles and which come to you.
• Customer data and renewals. Make sure you know who the end customers are.
• Exit. Agree what happens to customers and to localised materials if the agreement ends.

Have a local lawyer review it. Distribution law differs by country.

The work after signing

A signed agreement produces nothing until the partner's sales people can explain your product and want to. That takes training, joint customer visits, local case studies and regular contact.

At compensIT I closed a distribution partnership with Experian that took our product to market scale. The agreement was the start. The results came from the work with their teams afterwards.

Budget for a person on your side whose job is the partner. Without one, the partnership fades within a year.

Common questions