Armed with a Masters in International Marketing, Sharad Srivastava joined
Seagate as Country Manager for the Indian sub-continent in 1991. During his
tenure, he has played a vital role in making the company a dominant hard disk
supplier in the region. Priorto joining Seagate, Sharad was with HCL India. He
iscurrently orchestrating the introduction of SAN and NAS product. DQCI caught
up with him, amid his hectic travel schedule, to discuss Seagate's business and
channel strategies in India. Excerpts from the conversation.Â
How big is your distribution network today?
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Our distribution network today comprises of three distributors, namely ACI
Infocom, Ingram Micro and ESys. The next layer comprises of Seagate Import
Partners, who number 16 as of today.
Seagate Import Partners buy directly from importers and sell in the local
currency, while the distributors don’t bill in the local currency. The final
layer and the port of call for the customer is the Seagate Storage Partner. They
not only sell, but also buy in the local currency and there are over 300 Seagate
Storage Partners in 36 cities across the country.
We have another category of partners simply called Seagate Partners, whom we
use for the sole purpose of information dissemination and they are not bound by
volume commitments.
How have you been able to develop this network?
Seagate enjoys a tremendous brand pull in the market; this is coupled with an
opportunity for the partner to create a greater value for himself through the
Seagate Storage Partner program. This program is more for creating value and
providing value through innovative advertising.
A successful venture was a partner booklet that we published and distributed.
And we also held seminars, trainings and appointed Relationship Managers, who
are constantly out in the field.
We ran a program for the storage customers, who made purchases from the
accredited partners. In a way we are promoting their name also. So our main aim
is to funnel and redirect all our business through these key partners.
In the May-June timeframe, we ran a number of customer-focused and
channel-focused program to maximize their benefits.
What are your expectations from the channel?
In our overall business scenario, the channel plays a very important role.
They are our eyes, ears and arms in the market. They provide us with regular
feedback about the requirements of their customers.
And using this information, we innovate and put the things in place, be they
products or promotions. Essentially we expect them to be open with us and we
interact with them very closely through our Relationship Managers and
Development Manager. Even I travel a lot to keep close contact with the channel.
It really helps us to streamline our strategies and work out programs for them
and creating more value out of our partnership.
What are the terms and conditions to become your channel partner?
Apart from a minimum volume commitment, there are not too many terms and
conditions that we impose on them. Number of people working with them and so on
are very unique variables and are different from partner to partner.
Each partner too is unique in himself and tries to create a differentiator
for himself. And they manage their business accordingly. We try and educate the
partners not only in storage business but other aspects of business too.
What kind of schemes and promotional programs do you keep running for
channels?
As I said earlier, our major focus is to narrow down the customer funnel and
redirect it to our accredited partners. So we try to create a pull in the right
direction. Apart from this we run a number of end-user schemes that helps the
partners to sell the products easily.
With a partner today stocking multiple products and brands, creating a pull
for the product becomes an essential part of our strategy. As part of this we
ran a ‘I use Seagate’ program in September-October timeframe for all our
partners as well as our customers. This was one of the broad programs we ran.
We even had a door-to-door campaign under this wherein we went to over 27,000
customers and gave them token gifts if they were using Seagate drives. This
interaction gave us information as to how many people were intending to buy PCs
in the near future and this was passed on to our channel partners. So in a way
it was demand-creation and channeling it to the partners.
What are your strengths vis-Ã -vis the channels?
As I said earlier, the channel is our core and our close interaction with
them is a major strength. It is the reach that they provide us gives us all the
strength. Another aspect of this relationship is the loyalty that we enjoy from
our partners. A large number of them have been us for a long time. For instance
our association with ACI is over a decade old.
What are the products being sold by the channels currently?
Our channel is currently selling hard disk drives and tape drives. But with
the changing business scenario, we will be bringing out SAN and NAS products.
And also in the pipeline are a number of consumer electronic products. Though we
will not directly manufacture the consumer electronic products, the hard disk
that goes into it will be ours.
Channel is complaining of inadequate margins in business. Are you
providing satisfactory margins to the channels?
Our emphasis is really to create more value in the association; it will help
them to therefore benefit from there. This includes promoting their name,
providing them with a large number of sales leads, channeling end users or
reseller needs to them. All this helps them to gain better margins. A number of
variants in terms of technology are available today. It is essential for a
partner to understand the customer requirements and provide the best fit. Time
to time training is provided to partners to be able to appreciate this. Training
equips the partners to give the customers exactly what they want and thereby
increase their repeat sales.
The introduction of a new product or a model calls for orientation of the
service staff, so what kind of a training support to you provide to the
channels?
We often have small group trainings. This is apart from the product launch
kits that go with every product launch. Also the Relationship Managers are
responsible for their entire territory, so they also look at any specific need
that a partner may have. And then online help is always available. There is no
fixed time frame for the training, but they keep happening at very regular
intervals.
Mohit Chhabra in New Delhi