Small Towns Set The Pace

At a time when corporates have slowed down their buying and enterprises have

deferred their purchase decisions, small towns are setting the pace of growth

for vendors as well as partners. Realizing the huge potential of these small

towns, majority of the vendors and distributors have rushed to B and C-class

cities to establish a foothold there.

This development has proved right the figures presented by IDC India in its

annual briefing ‘Directions 2002’ in July this year on the opportunities

presented by small towns for IT business. Based on these figures, we had urged

partners to set their sights on small towns in our editorial, "Small Towns

Beckon" in the issue dated August 15, and followed this up with a detailed

feature, "Small Is Big" in our Silver Club special issue dated

September 30.

Vendors and distributors have indeed set their sights on small cities and

have taken concrete measures to enhance their business there. Take the case of

Indore, for instance. Redington was the first to establish an office there a

year ago. In the last six months or so every major distributor has set up office

there.

So is the case with majority of the cities like Ahmedabad, Cochin, Pune,

Guwahati and Bubhanesher. These and other cities are growing at a fast pace

because these are acting as hubs to smaller towns around them.

Cochin, for example, supplies material to Thiru-vananthapuram, Calicut and

Trichur.

Similar is the case with Indore which acts as a hub to Ujjain and Dewas.

Dealers from Surat, Baroda, Nadiad and Anand come to Ahmedabad to buy their

ware.

Earlier dealers from interior Maharashtra rushed to Mumbai to make their

purchases, now nearly 40 percent of them come to Pune to place their orders.

What this means is that resellers in major metros like Delhi, Mumbai and

Chennai who were depending on surrounding cities for their business have to also

follow the vendors and distributors in establishing their presence there.

Already, dealers in Nehru Place are crying fowl because their business has

come down by almost 50 percent, due to the combination of slow-moving economy

and upmarket dealers staying put in their respective cities.

In Mumbai, the scene is no better. If earlier dealers from Gujarat and

interior Maharashtra rushed to the commercial capital with their orders, now

these flock to Ahmedabad and Pune where goods are readily available for them.

Realizing the pot of gold, vendors and distributors, with their money power,

will continue to establish their presence in more and more B and C-class cities.

The sub-distributors and large resellers, cannot afford to lose heart at this

development.

Instead, building on their already established reputation for service and

support, they should also set their feet in these cities with minimum overheads

and benefit from the fast growth that these cities promise.

SYLVESTER  LOBO