In June 2001, Advantage Computers launched a series of networking products
under the Adcom brand. Very soon the company added peripherals to their
portfolio. It outsources the manufacturing of its products to manufacturers
based in Taiwan, who supply exclusively to Advantage.
After the initial advertising and promotions, Adcom has come to command a
good mindshare within the trade community. The guiding philosophy for the
company is instant replacement of products, maintaining product quality and
rapid service delivery.
With a network of 15 branches spread all over the country assisted by eight C
and F agents and 3,000 plus channel partners, replacement has become a cakewalk
for the customer.
REACHING OUT
Advantage is all set to focus on the most important link in the business
chain – the customer. "For our peripherals, we are planning a huge
investment to capture the customer mindshare," says Sanjeev Bhatia,
Director, Advantage Computers.
Sanjeev Bhatia |
|
Milestones | |
Peripherals added to Adcom’s networking portfolio | |
Retail initiative started in north India | |
Tie-up with Cerebra, Via Technologies and Seagate |
The company has kickstarted an aggressive retailing initiative to reach out
to the customer. "Four retail outlets are already functional in
Delhi," says Harpreet Brar, Head - Corporate Business. The city will see
another 11 outlets coming up very soon in addition to another 15 cities in North
India that the company will cover under its retail initiative in the AMJ
quarter.
Once the company has established a firm spread over the northern part of the
country, it will look at other geographies. "We want to keep the confidence
among our resellers high," says Brar.
Following the franchisee model, the company has even taken measures to
exercise a certain control over the customer experience in its outlets. Says
Brar, "We will monitor the outlet performance very closely on a day-to-day
basis." The company aims to provide the customer a one-stop IT shop through
its retail outlets.
The tie-up with Cerebra for motherboards, Via Technologies for
microprocessors and Seagate for hard drives will help it offer customers a
complete PC solution.
Advantage does a lot of work to maximize customer experience for each
product. Says Brar, "Our R&D facility and our testing center here
ensure that customer needs are met satisfactorily."
INNOVATIVE MEANS
The company has been innovative in ensuring that the end-customer mindshare
is captured. For instance, one of its Delhi retail outlets also has a cyber
café and a restaurant under the same roof. Says Brar, "The opportunity to
see the Adcom brand in such an environment is very high."
Apart from this, the company also aggressively sponsors college and school
festivals. Explaining the objective, Brar says, "Today’s students will be
the users in future." These initiatives will be coupled with tactical
schemes and promotions to reach out to the customer from all directions.
The company is looking at 90 percent of its revenue coming from the Adcom
range of products by the year-end and the remaining from its distribution
business.
After establishing the credibility in the domestic markets, Adcom is all set
to go overseas.