2. LOW UPTAKE: Triggers Consolidation

Fiscal 2001-02 was the slowdown year which put breaks on the growth of #2 member of DQCI Silver Club. With revenues clocking Rs 1,350 crore, this Chennai-based distribution major showed a negligible 0.37 percent growth during 2001-02 as against the 80 percent growth it recorded in 2000-01 over the previous year.

Redington's figures only reflected the overall performance of rest of the hardware market, shrinking both in terms of units and value. The company, however, did try to beat back the trend in the market by focusing more on existing product lines and adding certain other key products.

It signed up with Cisco for networking products, HP for storage products and IBM for its entire range of software products. In addition to this, it entered into a marketing alliance with Samsung to distribute its range of laser printers.

The signs of slowing demand were visible early in the year, with growth restricted to a few segments. Redington's revenues stemmed from four broad areas, viz peripherals, systems, supplies and packaged
software. Peripherals from HP, Epson and Samsung brought in Rs 501 crore, while the sale of systems from HP, Compaq and IBM fetched Rs 324 crore. The sale of
supplies also rose sharply to Rs 341 crore, while packaged software rung in another Rs 157 crore. Overall, systems
contributed 24 percent to the overall revenue while peripherals brought in as much as 37 percent. Packaged software sales
made up for 12 percent of the total revenue while services pooled in another two percent. Rest 25 percent came from other
product segments.

On the weak side, the company failed to gain significantly in the fast growing government sector. Also the company was quite slow in tapping the enterprise segment. And it was this realization that saw company including new products from IBM, Cisco, HP and Samsung so as to increase its performance in the high-end enterprise computing segment

Redington CEO : Jitendra Kulkarni START-UP YEAR : 1993 NO OF PARTNERS : 5,500 BRANCHES : 28 PRODUCTS AND SERVICES : Systems, components, peripherals, servers, networking products and packaged software AGENCY OPERATIONS : APC, CA, Canon, Cisco, Epson, HP, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Samsung and TCS ADDRESS: SPL Guindy House, 95, Mount Road, Chennai - 600 032.TEL: 044-2353313-16 FAX: 044-2300940 WEB SITE: www.redingtonindia.com

One of the key strengths of the company has been its strong service network across the country. Last year saw its service division contributed as much as Rs 26 crore to the overall revenue.

MEASURES THAT BROUGHT MOOLAH: Added products in high-end enterprise computing segment Implemented CRM tools and automated sales force

The company added service centers in 18 more cities, taking the total to 34, with all of them being ISO 9002 certified. The year also saw Redington opening its newest branch office in
Guwahati.

Another significant event of the year under review was Redington's appointment as a neutral national service provider for IBM under its 'Very Focused Business' initiative.

The fiscal also saw the company implementing CRM tools, automating its sales force and taking initiatives to provide pro-active customer support. Implementation of a web-based call management system was one such step in this regard.

Along with expansion of its product portfolio, Redington successfully expanded its reach into the fast emerging B and C-class
markets as well.