Showcase Showtime

Ingram Micro India Pvt Ltd (IMIPL) organized its annual channel event,

Showcase 2002 at Hotel Renaissance in Mumbai in April. The three-day event saw

the participation of over 1,000 channel partners and 23 vendor companies.

The first day saw partners from northern and eastern regions converging at

the event. The other two days were earmarked for partners from southern and

western regions respectively.

The prime purpose behind the event was to bring vendors, channel partners and

IMIPL together on a single platform to discuss products, strategies and

programs. Says PG Kamath, VP-Marketing, IMIPL, "Our basic objective is to

provide insights to partners on how to make their businesses more

profitable."

Showcase 2002 also saw IMIPL launch two new web  initiatives,

Web Warranty and eSolutions. These initiatives will help

Ingram and its partners compare products, get accurate pricing information,

check whether products are in stock and subsequently post an order.

LOOK INTO THE FUTURE



The highlights of Showcase 2002 were the ‘Experience Zones’ and the

interactive discussions on topics of interest to the channel. The Experience

Zones helped partners get a closer look and feel of the technologies which they

would market in the future.

In every channel event, special offers and discounts get the highest

attention. Showcase 2002 was no exception. Trend Micro, for example, was

offering 10 boxes of PC-Cillin at a special price of Rs 660 per box. The

original dealer transit price was Rs 900. Similarly partners could pick up two

boxes of NeaTSuite at Rs 5,600 per box as against the original DTP of Rs 6,000.

Ingram had also organized interactive sessions for partners which covered

several key topics such as warranty, profitability of channels, technology

selling, how to sell services, making VAR business work and business potential

of B and C-class cities.

BRAND AWARENESS



Most vendors participated in Showcase 2002 to increase brand and product

awareness among partners. Says Ajit Pillai, Channel Manager, OBU, Trend Micro,

"We participated in this event to further our brand awareness." He

added that the response was better than they had expected.

Vivek Mehta, the Channel Manager of Lexmark International said, "We

wanted to highlight our products to partners focused on doing value-added

business. Also we used this event to remove every doubt that partners had with

respect to Lexmark."

Sanjeev Gupta, Senior Manager, Business Development, Asia South, Iomega

Pacific says he came to Showcase to interact with the channel and learn if they

had any problems with Iomega.

This was also the itinerary of Sanjeev Wad, Business Manager, Distribution

Channel, Compaq. Says he, "The Showcase is an ideal place to interact with

our business partners and sign up those channel members who are not selling our

products."

Showcase 2002 was not all work and no play. Every evening provided an

opportunity for partners and vendors to mingle freely with entertainers like

Infra Red getting the crowd to boogey till the wee hours.