Action Has Moved Out Of Metros

The biggest success story in the last two-three years has been the emergence
of the new markets, which are far removed from the metros. In the process,
vendors have found a new el dorado as far as IT buying is concerned. In fact, it
won't be an exaggeration to say that the center of universe has now moved to
B- and C-class cities.

Till the last couple of years, most of the action was concentrated in and
around the major metros. Vendors as well as distributors had not even bothered
to venture out to the hinterland. But now, the whole scenario has changed; and
changed very rapidly.

Basically, there were two major reasons for this. Firstly, the prolonged
economic recession took its toll with buying patterns going for a toss. This
forced everybody to look for alternate markets. Secondly, the awareness of IT in
the B- and C-class towns grew rapidly and at the same time their buying capacity
also went up considerably.

Both these factors put together meant that every vendor and distributor
started focusing very heavily on these towns. And suddenly, towns like Ahmedabad,
Baroda, Chandigarh, Cochin, Coimbatore, Indore, Jaipur, Lucknow, Nagpur, Pune,
Rajkot, Surat etc, have become very hot for the IT industry.

This in turn has resulted in vendors rushing to these cities. And, suddenly
there is a big explosion in terms of number of roadshows, seminars, events,
exhibitions and other events held there. And it shows no signs of abating in the
near future.

At the same time, the biggest and the most happening IT sector today is
retail. In fact, the concept of retail showrooms seems to be catching the fancy
of everybody, from the local vendors to the MNCs. Everyday one hears about a new
retail showroom opening somewhere in the country.

The most interesting fact is that these retail showrooms have not taken off
only in the metros, but also in smaller towns. In fact, these showrooms in the
B- and C-class towns are doing better business than the ones located in the
metros.

Vendors claim that it is the market outside the metros which have a greater
potential chiefly because of big concentration of industries in these regions
and also increasing affluence amongst the farming community.

As the buying in these small cities is going through the roof, the number of
channel partners is also increasing rapidly there. And, the issues and problems
faced by the channels in these small towns somewhat different from the channels
in the metros.

Issues like warranty support, price protection, after sales service, DoA,
delay in backends etc are some of the major problems for them. It would be a
great boost to these channel partners if vendors and distys take care of these
issues as and when they crop up.