KEYBOARDS AND MICE: From Corded To Cordless

The annual IT industry performance review conducted by MAIT for

the year 2000-2001 shows that 15,74,755 units of keyboards were sold in

1999-2000 and 19,14,230 were sold in 2000-2001. This shows an increase in sales

by almost 22 percent. Of the total keyboard sale during last year, businesses

accounted for 78 percent and households for 22 percent of the market.

An IDC report estimates that the installed PC base would

increase to 1.7 million in 2002 and is expected to grow to five million by 2004.

Given the fact that every PC sale is compli-mented by both a keyboard and a

mice, we can easily estimate how big the keyboard and mice market is going to

be.

This growth can be further ascertained by the fact that this

market segment has witnessed a CAGR of 24 percent, which is quite healthy by

present industry standards.

Leading brands



In the keyboard market, Acer (renamed Benq) wins hands down with a

marketshare of almost 35 percent. Market sources say that Samsung is next with

approximately 25 percent. Says Sandeep Parasrampuria, MD, The Best, "In

southern and western region, Acer is strong, while in north and east it is

Samsung. There are also smaller players like Adcom, Odyssey, Vesta, Amkette and

iBall who enjoy approximately two to three percent each."

According to Rajesh Goenka, Divisional Head, Rashi Peripherals,

Logitech has four to five percent marketshare, TVSE three to four percent with

the rest belonging to various other keyboard brands.

Adds Biju Bruno, Director-Marketing, Compuage Infocom,

"Microsoft is a strong player but it is targeted towards the premium

segment. There are brands like Frontech and Adcom which do well in certain

regional markets." According to him over 10-15 percent is occupied by

unbranded keyboards."

In the mice market, Logitech holds its position strongly with a

marketshare of almost 60 percent. However, Sanjeev Shah, National Sales Manager,

Logitech Far East, acquiesces that though Logitech holds the No 1 position,

Samsung is not far behind. In this segment too there are regional players like

Adocm, A4Tech, Intex, Frontech and Amkette. States Rajesh, "Fifteen to 20

percent is held by the fake brands and the remaining belongs to various other

players."

Ashish

Agarwal, CEO, Trifin Technologies points out that Microsoft is taking the lead

in the mice segment and the customer pull is becoming noticeable now. "In

Nehru Place there are assemblers who are now quoting Microsoft as the default

mouse as opposed to Logitech till a few months ago," he adds.

When asked about the slow movers, he lists Intex, Frontech,

Maple and unbranded mice. Anil Kumar Singh, GM, Lampo Computers Pvt Ltd on the

other hand, feels that the slowest moving brands are Adcom and Priya, which are

available for Rs 200 and Rs 80 respectively.

The winning edge



So what is it that has given Logitech and Acer the killing edge in the mice

and keyboard market respectively? Sources rationalize that Logitech’s claim to

fame is its presence in the Indian market for over a decade. Adds Sandeep of The

Best, "They have also spent heavily on branding and have selected a a

certain range of models and customer segment to position themselves."

In case of Acer, a vacuum in the market worked as an advantage

to their keyboard business. There were hardly any serious players in this space

and most of the vendors lacked focus. When Acer came along it brought with it a

well-known brand name, marketing muscle as well as commitment to the market.

Reminisces Sandeep Nair, MD, Benq (previously Acer Multimedia

and Communications Pvt Ltd), "The market was very scattered and there were

no established brands offering value-for-money. When we came in, we brought in

reliability and quality at affordable prices."

The channel wanted low-involvement products at affordable

prices. Both these brands (Logitech and Acer) were able to pander to this need

and therefore managed to carve a niche for themselves. However cautions Sanjeev

Shah, "Though we are at the top, we cannot afford to be complacent. We want

to maintain this position at all costs."

Sales and margins



Given the fact that keyboard and mice are low-value products, the unit sales

show very high numbers. Compuage for instance has sold 80,000 keyboards and

20,000 mice under its brand Odyssey, since its launch six months ago. Says Biju,

"We do not expect any growth in the next six months in terms of unit sales,

but instead hope to maintain consistent sales." Also Compuage is not

targeting the installed PC base, focusing instead on upgrades, which is not a

big market.

Rashi

Peripherals, which is the national distributor of Logitech has been doing good

numbers too. Says Rajesh, "In the mice segment, we sell 72,000 - 80,000

units in a quarter. For keyboards the quarterly units sales is

15,000-20,000."

Sale of other brands are not as encouraging though. Says Sandeep

Sodhani, Branch Manager, Supertron Electronics Limited, "On an average we

sell around 1,000 units of Mercury keyboards per quarter. We haven’t sold much

of mice this year." Adds Ashish, "We have sold 1,000 units of

Microsoft Internet keyboards priced at Rs 1,100 each and 3,000 mice priced at Rs

500 each this quarter." Lampo Computers too claims to sell only 150 units

of keyboards and 150-200 units of mice per quarter. While for Delhi-based Sai

Ram Computers, the figures are still lower. It has been able to sell just 50

units of various brands priced at around Rs 500 each and 75 units of mice at

around Rs 300 each per quarter.

Margins in the keyboard and mice business range between five and

six percent. Says Rajesh, "We distribute only Logitech mice and channel

enjoys a margin of Rs 10-15 on the entry-level mice. For the scroll mice, this

increases to Rs 20-30." According to him margins often vary from region to

region. "For instance, margins in the east are higher than in Delhi,"

informs he. Anil of Lampo mentions, "With resellers we earn Rs 40 to 50 per

unit and with end-users its Rs 100."

Though the partners offer disparate figures for the margins

earned by them, the fact remains that both the keyboard and mice continue to be

a volume-based business. The only exception being the RF or IR-based cordless

and optical keyboards and mice. As these are targeted at the premium segment and

carry a high price tag, margins earned per unit is far better than the normal

models.

Partners planning promos



The success of any brand depends to a large extent on the promotions and

schemes that vendors and partners devise. Most rely on the time-tested formula

of bundling mice and keyboards together or with some other products.

The Best has come up with a new promo called the "Red Hot

Offer". It is a point-based scheme for resellers and dealers. When its

partners collect 30 points they get a scratch card which entitles them to gifts

valued from Rs 285 to Rs 15,000. IT Maple too is forging ahead with its point

schemes and free gift offers on purchases.

Logitech will continue with its bundling offers as it

strengthens its focus on the retail segment. Acer too is targeting the retail

market. Says Sandeep Nair, "We are doing seeding in retail outlets across

the country as we strengthen the focus on optical mice."

Rashi Peripherals has a whole gamut of partner programs and

promos lined up. Besides the Genuine Logitech Dealer scheme, the company

recently organized roadshows covering 55 major cities in the country, involving

over 3,000 channel partners. Says Rajesh, "We also educate partners about

the disadvantages of selling fake mice. We constantly help them upgrade their

knowledge about the latest technologies. In addition to this, we also ran a

silver coin scheme for end-users."

Compuage Infocom is running upgrade promos as well as exchange

offers for end-users. However Biju is firm that he does not want Odyssey to

become just brand-driven. He believes that Odyssey range of mice and keyboards

would have more of quality value than brand value.

The warranty factor



As a norm most of the vendors offer a one-year replacement warranty for both

mice and keyboards. For optical products, the warranty is extended to two years.

The Best has gone ahead and increased the warranty for iBall and iKey to 13

months. Says Sandeep, "Usually the product lies with the distribution

channel for about a month. By offering 400 days warranty, we are ensuring that

customers do not lose on the last month of the one-year warranty period."

The reason the warranty is offered for only one to two years is

very simple. Both these products have very low failure rates. Explains Sandeep

Nair, "In the keyboard, the only thing that can get damaged is the

membrane. And if the membrane has a problem, it makes more sense to replace the

unit than to repair it."

In case of Microsoft, its keyboards and mice carry a three-year

warranty and there is no channel intervention in the replacement process. The

customer gets a direct replacement from Microsoft.

As against this, Samsung has stipulated that replacements will

only be done through the distributor from whom the purchase has been made.

However complains Vivek Kumar, CEO, Sai Ram Computers, "For resellers it

becomes a long process because we don’t buy directly from the distributor. It

also creates hassles for the customer."

Crawling to cordless



Till recently input devices were wired to the PC and offered little or no

mobility to the user. But not any more. Now cordless is the in thing. Be it mice

or keyboards, customers are willing to pay a little more to get the chance to

access their PC even from a distance (which can go as high as 30 feet).

In terms of quantity, sale of cordless products are not that

impressive yet. However, Rajesh informs that five percent (in terms of value

sales) of Rashi’s sales (of keyboards and mice) comes from these products.

"Our sales for cordless products grew by 50 percent in the OND and JFM

quarters." The price difference between cordless and normal mice is almost

two or three times. However Rajesh thinks more and more users will go for it,

because of the comfort it offers them.

Supertron Electronics too has seen an increase in the demand for

cordless keyboards. However Sandeep Sodhani laments, "Though the

promotional activities are in full swing we are not able to offer the products

to customers as we don’t have stock."

Anil

of Lampo has noticed that cordless keyboards and optical mice are in great

demand in the corporate segment. However he feels that sales will get a boost if

the prices come down further. "Today cordless mice are available for Rs

3,000 and a set of cordless keyboard and mice is available for Rs 5,000. The

market potential is definitely huge but subjective to the pricing of these

products," he states. Currently, Lampo Computers sells around 10 to 12

units of cordless keyboards and mice per quarter.

Ashish of Trifin informs that Microsoft too has been bitten by

the cordless bug and will launch a desktop bundle of wireless five-button mouse

and keyboard in April. He expects this bundle to be tentatively priced at Rs

3,500.

As the market slowly shifts from corded to cordless, partners

stand to gain in the product upgrade business. And the growth in the PC sales is

also good news for resellers selling to assemblers as well as retailers. Looks

like the clicking of the mouse and the tappity-tap of the keyboard will sound

like music to the ears of vendors and partners.

VINITA SUVARNA-BHATIA in Mumbai with inputs from SUNILA PAUL in

Bangalore and MOHIT CHHABRA in New Delhi.

Vendors you can buy from

ADVANTAGE COMPUTERS



Brand:

Adcom



Address: 202, Siddharth, 96, Nehru Place,

New Delhi - 110 019.



Tel: 011-6485384, 9810089115



Web site: www.advantageindia.com

AMKETTE



Address: Amkette House, C-64/4, Okhla

Phase - II, New Delhi - 110 020.



Tel: 011-6839876, 6839877



Web site: www.amkette.com

ANUBIS



Brand: Typhoon



Distributor:


Hi-Tech Computers:
0836-8363523/67



Web site: www.typhoononline.com

BENQ



Address: 302, Omega, Main Street,

Hiranandani Gardens, Powai, Mumbai - 400 076.



Tel: 022-5705230 upto 32



Distributor:


SES Technologies:
022-8356252,

8237660/0099



Neoteric Infomatique: 022-4172600



Aditya Group: 011-6223810/11



Aditya Group: 011-6223810/11, 6227979 sales@adityagroup.com





New Delhi 6452212/11



Web site: www.benq.co.in

COMPAQ



Address: Compaq Center, 92, Industrial

Suburb II Stage, Yeshwantpura, Bangalore - 560 022.



Tel: 080-3374785



Distributors:


Tech Pacific:
022-5182431 / 51822441



Redington: 044-2355116 / 2355117



Thakral Computers: 011-6235350 / 51



Web site: www.compaq.co.in

COMPUAGE INFOCOM



Brand: Odyssey



Address: Anjani Complex, 3rd Floor,

Periera Hill Road, Off Andheri-Kurla Road, Andheri (E), Mumbai - 400 099.



Tel: 022-8305500 upto 4



Web site: www.compuageindia.com

DEXXA



Address: 6F-3, 123 Sector 4, Pateh Road,

Taipei, Taiwan



Web site: www.dexxaweb.com

FRONTECH



Address: 30, Jadunath Dey Road, 4th

Floor, Kolkatta - 700 012.



Tel: 033-2368861



Distributor:



Jupiter Infosys 033-2379410

HCL



Address: E 4, 5 & 6, Sector 11, Noida

- 201 301.



Distributor:


Elite Peripherals:
044-8566129



Pleasance Technologies: 011-6222209



Web site: www.hclinfosystems.com

HP



Address: Chandiwala Estate, Maa Anandmai

Marg, Kalkaji, New Delhi - 110 019.



Tel: 011-6826000



Web site: www.hp.co.in

INGRAM MICRO INDIA LTD



Brand: Vesta



Address: 43/44, Kalpataru Court, Choitram

Gidwani Marg, Behind RK Studios, Chembur, Mumbai - 400 074.



Tel: 022-5550604/10

IT MAPLE



Address: Selathaar Industry, 1-C, Tangy,

34, Victoria Crescent Road, Egmore, Chennai - 600 008.



Tel: 044-8252275



Distributor:


Ross Computers:
022-7826002/5684



Web site: www.selathaar.com

KOBIAN



Brand: Mercury



Address: A 402, Queens Corner Apartments,

Queens Road, Bangalore - 560 001.



Tel: 080-2257300



Web site: www.kobian.com

LOGITECH



Address: 401, Deccan Court, 259, S V

Road, Bandra (W), Mumbai - 400 050.



Tel: 022-6551253



Distributor:


Rashi Peripherals:
022-8221013/24



Web site: www.logitech.com

MICROSOFT



Address: 113/114, Free Press House,

Nariman Point, Mumbai - 400 021.



Tel: 022-2850193



Distributor:


Ingram Micro:
022-5550604/10



Trifin Technologies: 011-6236061,6486447

PRIYA



Address: 4th Floor, Podar Chambers, 109

Brelvi Road, Fort, Mumbai - 400 001.



Tel: 022-2663611



www.priyagroup.com

SAMSUNG



Address: 47, Ring Road, Lajpat Nagar-III,

New Delhi - 110 024.



Tel: 011-6322517-19



Distributor:


Ingram Micro:
022-5550604/10



www.samsungindia.com

TVS ELECTRONICS LTD



Address: 34, Developed Plots, South Phase

Industrial Estate, Guindy, Chennai - 600 032.



Tel: 044-2325506, 2325509



Web site: www.tvs-e.com

THE BEST



Brand: iKey and iBall



Address: 87/93, Mistry Industrial

Complex, MIDC Cross Road A, Andheri (E), Mumbai - 400 093.



Tel: 022-400093



www.thebestindia.com

VINTRON



Brand: Riticomp



Address: F-90/1 A, Okhla Industrial

Estate, Phase-I, New Delhi - 110 020.



Web site: www.vintron.com