When we sell through the channel, we create product pull for them

An engineer from Pune University, Rajesh Goenka started his career 1997. Two years later, he decided that IT was the place to be and joined Rashi Peripherals, looking after the company's service network. Now as the divisional head for IT distribution, he is busy thinking new ways to add value to the company's channel. Following the success of the Genuine Logitech Dealer program, Rajesh says that he wants to take more channel marketing initiatives.

Who are your principal vendors and how well established is your infrastructure?

Our principals are Logitech, PixelView, Asus, Acer (exclusively for scanners), Jetway motherboards and

Prolink.  

Our head office and our godown is in Mumbai while our manufacturing unit (for RP Tech systems) is at Daman. We have 20 branches in the country at the moment and two more branches are coming up in the next month. We are concentrating on the eastern region where our presence has been only in

Kolkatta. 

How big is your distribution network?

We have two parallel channel networks. The first is the Rashi authorized partner (ARP). These are the dealers to whom we supply and they in turn sell to their partners. Our second network is the registered Rashi System Integrator (RSI). We sell to them directly and they either use our products in their systems or sell further down their line. 

We have roughly 350 ARPs and 300 RSIs. We will see more people join these networks by the end of the year. 

What strategy are you adopting to push your sales through channel partners?

Our branches are mostly sales oriented. So we have decided do appoint marketing people in different regions. Initially we will start this initiative in Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkatta and

Mumbai. 

This marketing person will report directly to the headquarters in Mumbai. He will not have any sales targets; he will solely concentrate on marketing. He will identify new dealers, solve problems of existing dealers, address customer complaints and devise new marketing strategies for the region. He will go into the market, give and take feedback from the channel, inform them about the new products etc. 

He will work on behalf of the branches for the channel. He will even accompany our dealers for discussions with their customers, if the need arises. This move is a qualitative improvement for our business, besides adding a personal touch to our channel interaction. This is a value-addition to increase our output.

Do you also sell directly?

We have our own B2C site, which we launched two months ago. Here we get approximately 30 orders a month. Other than that we are not into direct marketing. But yes, there is a parallel segment, which is the OEM, for bulk requirements. Recently we tied up with PCS Industries where we will supply them over 1,000 web cameras for their PCs. Here the business is done directly with the customers.

We are also planning to get into the corporate segment, but here our role will be basically to promote our products. We will

propagate the product with door-to-door selling and by devising special schemes for the corporate. But the ultimate selling will be done through our channel network.

How are you marketing your products to corporates?

Our sole idea is that when we sell through the channel we also create some product pull for them. For example, if you see Pepsi, their dealers and distributor are only stockists for them. The pull is created by their in-house promotions and advertising. We too are trying to create a demand for our products, so that our dealers can push it in the market. 

Does this mean that all the promotional activities are devised by you instead of the vendors?

You have to understand that we are not merely a sales organization, but are a marketing organization. We will increase our sales by adding value to the products we sell. For example, Logitech does not do any of their promotional activities directly, we do the entire thing. Right from the designing of the advertisements, deciding promotions and then implementing them. The funding is mutually arranged.

Are there plans to tie up with more vendors?

We are considering one or two vendors, whom I would not like to name. On the whole, we are very selective and prefer to do good work for our principals. We do not want to get into a race to add more vendors to our list without being able to provide good service. 

For example we distribute only scanners from Acer Peripherals, when most Acer distributors carry the entire range of their brand. And if you see whatever product we have, we tend to do a lot of value addition. We do not want to take product where we merely have to push the box. 

The last few quarters were not very good for the IT industry. How have they affected

Rashi?

JFM was good, while AMJ was not that high. Anyway in the IT industry, if the rate of growth is just 15-20 percent, people perceive that the industry has slowed down. I think we are comfortable with the way we are growing. As compared to the previous year we might have slipped by 10 percent in the last fiscal. But we hope to grow by 25 percent this year.

What were your learnings in these past months?

In the current scenario where business is not very forthcoming ,we have learnt to look inwards. We always add more value to our products instead of simply adding more vendors to sustain in the market. That is why we were not affected with the downslide greatly. 

Which was your most successful channel marketing program till date?

Rashi Peripherals started the Genuine Logitech Dealers (GLD) program a couple of years ago to counter the fake mice problem in the country. We wanted to create a instant identification for dealers selling Logitech products. We worked in close conjunction with our dealers, educated them about the benefits of selling genuine Logitech products and then gave them certification. We just re-validated the certification this April. 

How effective was this program?

Today we have over 300 GLDs in the country. That in itself speaks for the success of the program. Before this program the percentage of fake mice in the country was almost 40 percent. Today though we have been unable to eradicate the problem we have managed to bring it down to 15 percent. Of course, this program would not have been possible without the help of Logitech. The company actively participated in raiding the fake mice dealers.

Do you plan to have similar certification programs for your other products?

We would like to have similar plans for other products. But we already have two levels of certification. First is the ARP, where our dealers can by any of our products. And the other is the RSI. So almost every ARP and RSI is a GLD, so there might not be need to have such programs.

What new programs are you working out for your channel?

Starting form 9th July, we will start a new countrywide program where we have hired over 60 direct marketing personnel. Each of our GLD will be provided with a team of these direct marketing personnel, who will wear Logitech's T-shirts, caps and will stand with GLD banners outside our dealer's outlet. They are going to promote Rashi, Logitech and the GLD concept. 

Vinita Suvarna-Bhatia in Mumbai