Demand for laptop accessories goes up by 25%

The demand for laptop and PDA accessories across the country

has gone up by 25 percent in the JAS quarter. Though sales of notebooks and PDAs

are not happening in a proportionate manner, existing users of such devices are

increasingly buying accessories and peripherals to enhance their functionality.

These accessories include USB notebook cards and hubs, surge protectors, PDA

keyboards and media readers, among others.

Says Ashish Agarwal, Director of Delhi-based Trifin

Technologies, "In the last quarter we have seen an immense interest in

these products from both existing and new customers. This is also because now a

greater number of USB and Firewire devices are available in the market. For us,

the growth on a quarter-on-quarter basis has been 100 percent."

Another Delhi reseller, Bhartiya Electronics, too claims a

good growth. "In JAS we have seen a jump of almost 25 percent in the sale

of these devices as compared to the previous quarter," says Meena Jaiswal,

Sales Co-ordinator, Bhartiya Electronics. Bangalore-based ADS Marketing reports

having sold nearly 200 units of laptop accessories in the last three months.

Last quarter has also seen few foreign companies appointing

national distributors here. Some of these companies are Belkin, which recently

announced its tie-up with Mumbai-based Carrypaq Asia Pacific. Another

Mumbai-based reseller JS Electronics took the exclusive distributorship of

Freecom, which deals in similar product range.

Interestingly, Carrypaq and JS Electronics are already

exclusive distributors for Targus and Iogear respectively, both of which are

competitors in the same space. With other vendors like Transcend and Sony also

coming out products in this segment, the days ahead promise to be fiercely

competitive.

Says Pushparaj Vasani, Director, Carrypaq, "Despite a

number of companies making an entry, there still exists huge business potential,

as the PDA market is bound to grow." He also believes that being a niche

segment, currently margins for these products are comparatively better. "If

we sell to end-customer, we easily make a margin of 15-20 percent," says

Meena. Agrees Ashish, "Margins are much better and making 10 percent

through channel sales is not difficult."

Goldie



With inputs from MOHIT CHABBRA and SUNILA PAUL