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Monitoring B & C-Class Cities

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DQC Bureau
New Update

With metros getting saturated, vendors are rushing to B and C-class cities to

increase their sales. Dealers and resellers in these cities are finding new

business opportunities as vendors are keen to explore their business contacts.

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Vendors find another advantage in these cities. They have an opportunity to

push entry-level monitors here, while metros are looking for high-end products.

In

most of the C-class cities, the emphasis has been on market development. Vendors

like Philips, LG Electronics and Benq (formerly Acer Communications &

Multimedia India), have found their stronghold in some of these cities.

In fact, LG Electronics and Philips have a larger market share than Samsung

in some of these cities. According to these vendors, markets in the metros have

reached a point where it is difficult to gain market share. However, this does

not mean that they are shunning the metros totally.

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Demand for 15"



According to market sources, the demand in C-class cities is primarily for

15-inch monitors, though 14-inch is still considered as entry-level. Also,

awareness is on rise as far as high-end monitors are concerned. Says Pankaj

Sharma, Head, IT Sales, Sharp Systems says, "The decision of buying a LCD

monitor may not happen here. But there has definitely been an appreciation of

the product quality and benefits in these cities."

While the market opportunities in B and C-class cities are for real,

turnaround time has become a hurdle. The turnaround time from planning to final

delivery of products is roughly three months. So one is sure of the market

situation at the end of the cycle.

What adds to the problems is the remoteness of some of these cities and the

problem of reaching them. If there is a sudden demand, like from an institute,

there is not much corrective action that one can be taken if the channel partner

does not have enough stocks.

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Strategies for upcountry cities



This financial year started with several vendors tying up with channel

partners who have strong presence in B and C-class cities. For instance, BPL ERL

tied-up with Nebula Technologies as its national distributor. Says Mohit Mathur,

Sr Manager, Sales & Marketing, BPL ERL, "This tie-up has given us reach

and wider network spread across metros and B and C-class cities."

BPL ERL is in the process of conducting roadshows in these cities jointly

with its distributors to showcase the company’s range of products. BPL has

also recently participated in Compex 2002 exhibition at Nagpur and a consumer

exhibition CIPEX at Secunderabad emphasizing company’s focus in these cities.

"Both these exhibitions have aroused good response from end-users,"

says Mohit.

BPL

has also received good response from cities like Indore, Ankleshwar, Akola,

Nagpur, Jaipur, Coimbatore, Vijaywada, Hubli, Pune, Belgaum and Cochin among

others. "We hope to consolidate our position in other cities with the help

of our national distributor," adds Mohit.

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Apart from tying up with channel partners, several companies are also

organizing events as well as participating in them to drive up customer demand.

Sonal Anand, Country Product Manager, Samsung India says, "Our investments

include participation in local trade fair, IT exhibitions and local events to

spur customer buying into IT."

Though a late entrant in the Indian monitor market, Philips has added

momentum to its campaigning in B and C-class cities. Says Sanjeev Jain,

Head-Peripherals Division, Philips, "Our strategy is not to have national

distributors. Instead, we have appointed regional distributors, because that is

the best way to reach unexplored regions."

According to vendors who have ventured out to upcountry regions, a national

distributor may not be in a position to show his presence here. The initiative

taken by Philips to appoint around 80 regional distributors in C-class cities

only emphasizes this further.

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Also, the regional distributors have an advantage over national players

because of their logistical edge and intimate knowledge of the local market

conditions.

Making inroads



LG has reportedly sold a record number of its Flatron brand monitor in various
regions of Maharashtra recently. Resellers estimates also show that LG Flatron

has done well in upcountry markets. Benq, which was keeping low in promoting

their monitors, now feels the need to push monitors to achieve better brand

visibility. According to Benq MD, Sandeep Nair, they have been pretty strong

with their other products like keyboards, CD-writers and scanners.

"We think that promoting monitors in a big way will surely give us the

required visibility for our brand," says Sandeep. He also joins others in

looking at B & C-class cities as a potential area for good business

propositions. "We are looking at 30-odd cities for extending our

business," informs he. Expressing similar sentiments, Sanjeev says,

"We will continue to sell in the metros, but our focus is going to get

stronger in B and C-class cities."

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Market waiting to be explored



IDC data indicates the strong emergence of small towns as far as IT business is
concerned. Understandably, monitor business would also witness a relative

growth. While metros are reaching a peak as far as automation is concerned,

there is still a greater potential to be harnessed in the cities with population

between 5 and 10 lakh.

Among B and C-class cities, Allahabad and Guwahati in East, Mysore and

Vijaywada in South, Nasik and Aurangabad in West and Agra and Amritsar in North

are reportedly the ones with the greatest market potential.

All these facts are indicative that PC penetration is yet to achieve a crest

in these cities. And with monitor business being directly proportional to PC

sales, the signs are more than just good. Accordingly, vendors can set their

sights to do a flourishing business in these cities and strengthen their

bottomline.

In a nutshell, there is evidently a large untapped market lying in B and

C-class cities in terms of PC penetration. As a result, both vendors and

partners have every reason to be bullish about the way monitor business is going

to shape up.

SUNILA PAUL in Bangalore with inputs from NELSON JOHNY in Mumbai and MOHIT

CHhABRA in Delhi

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