"We believe a single distributor would not be able to reach out to all channel partners, especially in the smaller cities”

Patriot Memory, which is marking its entry into the Indian market, is

considering coming out with a special pricing, only for India to help it gain a

foothold in the market. Having traditionally sold its products in the US markets

for 20 years, the company opened its Asian office in Taiwan just two years ago.

Since then this region has seen a high traction in terms of sales.

Now, looking at the potential of the Indian market, Patriot will soon enter

the country with the help of a channel network. To help its positioning in the

market, it is also planning to come out with a strategic pricing for the region,

under guidance from its channel.

Talking about its channel network, Patriot will appoint distributors who will

not focus on certain geographies, but on select verticals. “We believe that one

single distributor would not be able to reach out to all channel partners,

especially those in the smaller cities,” said Paul Jones, CEO, Patriot Memory.

The company thus plans to appoint regional distributors who will work with

the retail channel, the systems integration channel, the reseller channel, the

upgrade customers, etc. “This is the only way we can be profitable and reach out

to a wider set of customers. Also, since each of the distributors will be

targeted on certain verticals, there will not be too much channel conflict,

which is precisely what we want,” Jones added.

Paul Jones CEO, Patriot Memory

He is confident that this strategy will work. As per the company, this is the

same strategy that Patriot has adopted in other countries and it has paid it

rich dividends. “Memory is a commodity, and therefore the key to succeed in this

business is to move large volumes. This is why we need to reach out to as many

channel as possible so that they in turn can take our products to the end

customers,” Jones noted. “Also, price fluctuations in the memory market are very

rampant. We can decide what the profits margins for a particular customer

vertical should be, and then in case of price changes, the channel has the

leeway to work on the margin bandwidth to ensure that they don't suffer any

losses.”

Patriot will initially be present in India through its partners and will work

on having a robust post-support network in place. Over time, the company will

also establish its Indian office.

According to estimates, the market for DRAM is $30 billion while flash cards

is expected to be around $20 billion globally. While Patriot will continue to

push its DRAM memories, it will increase its focus on the flash memories and USB

drives. The sales of these two products have been incrementally going up at a

steady pace over the past several years globally. But more so in India, where

the telecom and mobility market is moving at a steady pace.

Jones is unfazed by the presence of gray and the fake products in India. He

felt that fake manufacturers could make products identical to the ones Patriot

designs. But they will not find it viable to include all the technology that

OEMs integrate in the products.

VINITA BHATIA



vinitavs@cybermedia.co.in