22. Back To: The Past

Rashi Peripherals' revenue went down to what it was in 1999-00–Rs 89 crore. With a decline of 16 percent in turnover, its ranking too fell to #22 from #19.

Rashi Peripherals had hoped to clock revenues of Rs 125 crore for 2001-02. However, the market slowdown saw it register a negative growth of 16 percent with revenues declining to Rs 89 crore from Rs 106 crore in 2000-01. Its ranking in the DQCI Silver Club too came down from #19 to #22.

Undaunted, the company undertook aggressive marketing campaigns in over 28 cities. "If it was not for the aggressive marketing, the results would have been worse," says Suresh Pansari, MD.

Most of its marketing campaigns were targeted directly at end-users. To create channel awareness in B and C-class cities, Rashi held a series of roadshows as well. According to Suresh, these roadshows were aimed at promoting the vendor brands as well as Rashi's channel support mechanism.

The year was marked with various innovative schemes from principals like Logitech, Sony and Asus. Rashi also kept its promise and took its outstanding partners to overseas trips through Logitech, Sony and

Microtek.

The biggest distribution tie-up for the company came from Sony for its storage and display products. It also signed Aviosys for its complete range of encoder cards and Jetway for motherboards.

MEASURES THAT BROUGHT MOOLAH: Aggressive marketing campaign in over 28 cities, Tied-up with Sony for its storage and display products

During the year a lot of emphasis was given on the Rashi Retail Program (RRP), which will have 200 retail partners. "Our retail strategy was an attempt to cope with the increased pressure on margins during a slow year," says Suresh. As an extension of this strategy, Rashi also tied up with many stationery shops in Mumbai. "We will tie up with stationery partners in other cities too," he adds.

Rashi focused more on its principal's brands rather than its own RPtech brand. However, in a few months, it plans to launch its very own branded debug card.