13 RASHI PERIPHERALS:Upcountry Inroads

Rashi Peripherals realized that the best way to boost sales was to go straight to the customers’ doorstep. To further this endeavor in 1999 they started organizing monthly road shows throughout the country. And besides the metros they have taken their road shows to over 80 cities, including mofussil areas. The objective was to create awareness as well as create an easy brand recall for the products distributed by Rashi. Through the roadshows Rashi has managed to entrench itself in the minds of customers as well as channel partners.

The road shows are often held in conjunction with the special promotions conducted by the principals. This is sometimes jointly decided with the vendors, but often Rashi devises its own schemes. The exercise has paid off and it has had a positive effect on the overall sales.

The company has recorded a turnover of Rs 110 crore for 1999-2000 and this year the company is gunning for a 45 percent growth to clock Rs 160 crore. And in bid to achieve this the company is spreading its channel base from 1,700 to 2,200.

Besides, the company is also active in systems integration and assembles over 1,000 PCs a month. This year the sales are expected to reach 12,000 units.

West and south contributed most to the turnover at 40 and 30 percent respectively, while north accounted for 20 percent. This year too the sales from the different regions are expected to follow the same pattern.

The company distributes Logitech mice, Asus motherboards and notebooks, PixelView TV tuners, Jetway motherboards, CNet networking products, Seagate hard disk drives, Acer and Sony products, besides Intel and AMD processors. Seagate has appointed Rashi as the Value Import Partner. Rashi also distributes Yamaha and Jetway sound cards on an order-to-order basis.

In March 2000 Rashi tied up with US-based cable company, Garner, for distribution of their Renka brand. And in October it was appointed as the sole distributor in the country. Currently negotiations are on to partner with two more companies whose products Rashi plans to distribute.

Rashi participates in exhibitions and seminars extensively. This year they are planning to make their presence felt at IT Comdex to be held in December and another event which is being planned by the Manufacturers Association of Information Technology.

Rashi will also set up a call center at Mumbai within a few months and similar facilities will be made available in other metros as well. However, promoters of the company do not have very high hopes for technologies like ERP or CRM. Though there are plans to implement these technologies in the imminent future, they believe that this endeavor might take another few years. The company has grown from 125 employees in the beginning of 1999 to over 150 till date.

One of the key events of last year for Rashi was the PC Quest certification for Best Quality Provider. Also the testimony of the company’s dedication to distribution come through when one sees that it has managed to go from one of the many national distributor of Logitech to an exclusive one.

In an age where most people are going for IPOs or VC funding, the Choudhari–Pansari families have no intention of allowing external equity participation in the jointly held Rashi Peripherals.