Satcom subsidizes Sophos prices in India

Satcom Technologies, the newly-appointed Sophos distributor in India, is

subsidizing the company’s anti-virus packs by 25 percent for channel partners.

A 25-user pack for one year will cost Rs 1,500 per user, instead of Rs 2,000.

Similarly packs sold to educational institutions will be made available at 60

percent less than the actual price. Says Vinod Kumar, Director, Satcom

Technologies, "We will give the products at only 40 percent of the actual

price to partners who sell to educational institutions. Partners can, however,

sell the same packs at the MRP price mentioned on them. This means they get a

margin of at least 60 percent in effect."

Satcom hopes that this aggressive pricing strategy will help it make inroads

into the Indian enterprise market. "At the moment, brand awareness for the

product is very low, though it is technically superior. We are confident that

once we get users to buy this product, we will be able to retain them as loyal

customers."

In a bid to make the products easily available, Satcom is currently

appointing channel partners to sell Sophos. "We hope to appoint at least 20

dealers within the next six months," says Vinod.

Satcom is cashing on its existing service network to give it the upper hand

in selling Sophos products. It has already set up a centralized service center

with online and telephone help desk at Hyderabad.

VINITA BHATIA