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“We give the best quality for the given price”–Rajesh Doshi

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Being a leader in the peripheral industry, what are the transformations you have witnessed in the industry over the years?

The peripheral industry has gone through a lot of change in the recent years. The unique aspect of the Indian peripherals market is that it has become very much value conscious. Every brand is known for its own strengths. Today's consumer wants the best in a given budget and defines his own ‘best'-be it in quality, aesthetics, features or service. As the consumers are getting more informed, they are more demanding now. This industry is changing very fast, either you move with the time and technology or you will be left behind. They get all the information from the internet. They no longer believe what a company say, they do their own research before buying anything. It is an exciting opportunity for us as the good product speaks for itself and in this age of fast communication, product automatically reaches to millions of people.

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What are the factors that drive the growth of peripherals market in India?

The peripheral market is not as fast growing as it was before. We are now in peripherals business for more than 13 years. We understand the market better and Zebronics has reached a place where people know the brand and its strengths. We have a strong presence all over the country. We have products right from the entry level to the high-end. We update the products regularly and keep the product range fresh and latest. We have a dedicated, energetic and young team, in other words, Zebronics is present throughout India and has a strong service setup for after sales support. Zebronics tagline has been to stay ‘always ahead' and the mentioned engines would help us achieve, and we will continue to remain committed.

What uniqueness does Zebronics hold compared to other brands?

We have our own business model. We have products that are unique in the market. We try to give the consumer best possible quality for the given price. The phrase ‘value for money' plays a key role when developing Zebronics products. Even in marketing, we have a very unique approach and we treat all the smaller zones as independent entities rather than treating the whole nation as one. This way we can cater the local markets more efficiently according to their needs.

What are the recently-added products in your portfolio?

The most recent launch from Zebronics is NetWiz (The Network Wizard), the new high-performance wireless product. We have tried to infuse magic into the wireless products. These products redefine the role wireless products play in consumers' life by enabling a variety of innovative new applications and features, which expand the possibilities and unleash the ultimate home network.

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NetWiz is a product range having 3 wireless routers and a wireless dongle. The first product NWZ-WR150A is a wireless router, NWZ-WR150A-3G is a wireless router with 3G model USB port and NWZ-WR150A-ADSL is a wireless router with built-in ADSL modem. We have also launched USB dongle NWZ-UD150A, which can also work as an access point.

Be it a PC, laptop, tablet or even a mobile phone, NetWiz series wireless routers connect all for a seamless internet experience. Its just magical. In today's connected world, communication is a big part of our life and internet is one of the fastest media of communication; Zebronics has tried to make it simple for all kind of users. A lot of research and development was conducted for months to make sure that these products prove user-friendly and work flawlessly.

Apart from NetWiz, we have also launched our 5.1 speaker range in the market, which has been an enormous success. Our 5.1 speakers are known as "The Sound Monsters." We call them sound monsters because they are incredibly loud, as we like to listen our music at full volume.

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How was FY12 for peripheral industries? How Zebronics played well?

It was a tough year, especially the 2011 last quarter and 2012 first quarter. It was a good time to carefully expand the product lines by bringing in innovative products. We have won many awards for Zebronics this year in categories like portable media players, TV tuners, cabinets including the best preferred brand. Apart from these, we have also received many raving reviews from media.

Zebronics brand is well entrenched in segments like cabinets/chassis, power supplies, keyboard/mouse, UPS-these are the items for which we are well known. But, several of the comparatively newer categories have been doing well above expectations. Speakers, headphones, LCD monitors, some of the advanced portable media players, and laptop accessories have taken off, confirming our belief that the market will always respond well to good value at reasonable price. Increasing diversity in the product range is one big achievement for us this year.

Which products performed well last year? What were the factors responsible their success?

The products which have performed beyond our expectation are speakers, laptop accessories, LED monitors, headphones and portable media players. If you notice, these all are end-consumer products, which can be removed from the box and used straight away. Before launching products under these categories we did a lot of research and development. We have not compromised on the quality of the products and tried to give the best possible quality for the price. We have also launched many new innovative unique products under these categories, which can be seen as risk taking but its paid off well to us.

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What are the plans you have drafted for the forthcoming fiscal?

Looking at the market now, its going to be a tough year, at least the next few months until the price stabilizes, but it is a good time to carefully expand the product lines by bringing in innovative products. So even through the tough time, the brands with required blend of innovation, price and quality will lead. Right now we have the strongest and one of the best range of products we ever had; its going to be a tough year but we are sure of our success.

Please explain your channel network in the country.

We believe that the channel partners are the backbone of our business as they take on the role of representing the face of Zebronics brand to the consumer. We adapt to the region and make our distribution model, such that it is in interest of Zebronics as well as all our channel partners. We have customized distribution network across the nation according to the market. There is no single distribution model for Zebronics in the Indian market.

All our partner policies therefore are structured to optimize the business interests of the partners as well as Zebronics. We will be focusing on more innovative products that incorporate better quality with style. Affordability will continue to be the main platform building up the Zebronics brand. Inspite of VFM factor, we make sure that the channel partners get a good margin for the efforts they put in. In all this, we extend the hand of partnership with the channel community, and seek their full-fledged support as we get always.

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