Vadodara partners decry poaching by regional distys from other states

Partners in Vadodara are an unhappy lot. And their discontent stems from the fact that regional distributors from other states in Gujarat often sell their products in Vadodara, to fulfill their sales targets. This poaching affects the local channel business.

Regional distys from larger cities in Gujarat, like Ahmedabad and Surat, buy in bulk from vendors and national distys, therefore enjoying better prices from their suppliers. It is easier for them to sell it in a small city like Vadodara, where the prices offered by local partners is slightly higher due to the low volume of business in the region.

Some companies, like AB’s Desh Infotech, have already started taking a stand against this practice of intra-city poaching. Said Amit Shah of AB’s Desh Infotech, “If we come to know that a regional disty from outside Vadodara has sold a particular brand in our city, we simply send a letter of protest to the OEM and stop selling its products, till we get an assurance that this will not re-occur.”

Amit, who is also a secretary of Baroda IT Association (BITA), said that this issue has to be tackled by the vendors only and the association has communicated this to them. However, the association can’t stop these non-Vadodara regional distys to sell in the city.

Another problem that the channel community in Vadodara are grappling with is the fact that vendors, and even distributors, are coming up with different pricing strategies for different partners. This is giving an impetus for in-fighting among the channel community.

Said Yogesh Thakkar of Rhythm Electronics, “With vendors coming up with different strategies for various partners, an artificial competition is created among us. This spoils the relationships with our peers and also makes us distrust the vendors.”

Though top performing partners are given preferential treatments, the channel fraternity feels that this should
not be extended to pricing,
as it will make them more competitive and stagnate the growth of other players. Also, vendors and distys often sell directly to end-users, rather than routing this order to their partners, especially if the customer is paying in cash.

What partners are demanding is a uniform channel strategy, especially for pricing, throughout the region. This will resolve the problem and partners can then focus more on value-added
services.

Some partners, like Shree Computers, have already come up with their own modus operandi to deal with this problem. They have different set of price lists for dealers and end-users. And they adhere to these pricing to different set of customers. This ensures that their dealer customers can also enjoy some margin when they sell to their buyers.

VINITA BHATIA