Non-stop Performance

The name says it all! A-Plus Computers, a Mumbai-based peripherals reseller,

has lived up to its name. Even during the slowdown, A-Plus has been able to

maintain a strong bottom line. And the credit for this 100 percent growth year

after year goes to Mehul Gandhi, the proprietor.

Armed with a three-year´s diploma in computer technologies, Mehul started

his career in 1995 as an engineer at a small-time systems integrator. Being a

Gujarati, the idea of running his own business was always in his mind. In April

1997, he finally took the plunge by starting A-Plus Computers.

Mehul works with a team of four employees and operates from a small office in

the suburbs of Mumbai. He believes in keeping overhead costs to the minimum.

An ardent follower of Feng Shui, Mehul believes that the premises, working

environment and the flow of energy, do play an important role in anybody´s rise

or fall. No wonder! You are welcomed with a lot of Feng Shui articles placed all

over his premises.

Doubling growth



In the very first year A-Plus achieved a sales turnover of Rs 2 crore. Says

Mehul, "High growth in the first year was because of the high-value

products that we dealt in. Initially, our focus was on selling monitors, CPUs

and hard disks, the value of which is very high." In 1998-99 and 1999-00,

A-Plus continued to almost double its turnover with revenues of Rs 3.5 crore and

Rs 6.5 crore, respectively. In 2000-01, it reported a turnover of Rs 8.5 crore,

which was up by 30 percent. In 2001-02, A-Plus grew by 14 percent with a

turnover of Rs 9.75 crore.

In a changed market scenario, Mehul adopted a new strategy to continue in the

business. "We changed our focus from high-value products to low-value

products like mice, keyboards and cabinets where margins are good," says

Mehul.

Because of this new strategy, though A-Plus has not grown in terms of

turnover like in the past, it has maintained its profitability.

Awards and recognition



A-Plus was given the Top Reseller Award for two consecutive quarters of 2001

by ViewSonic. In recognition of the company’s efforts in increasing ViewSonic’s

business, the vendor awarded it a Maruti Zen car. Recently, it also received an

award from LG Electronics for being one of the top four resellers in Mumbai.

Now, with SIs and end-users as its target customers, A-Plus has set its focus

very clear–´no´ to wholesaling, and concentrate on maintaining the bottom

line.

Mehul attributes some part of his success to his personal interaction skills

with 80 percent of his customers on a day-to-day basis. With virtually zero bad

debts and timely service to his customers, A-Plus today stands high on goodwill

in the market.

NELSON JOHNY in Mumbai