“Any Zebronics product can be serviced at more than 65 centers ”

“Any Zebronics product can be serviced at more than 65 centers ”

In last few years, ‘Zebronics’ brand has established themselves in this quite tough and competitive market. Rajesh Doshi, Director, Top Notch Infotronix India Pvt Ltd (Zebronics) shares insight of his company’s plans and vision.

DIGITAL TERMINAL: How will you analyse year 2011 for Zebronics?

Rajesh Doshi: It was an extremely good year for Zebronics. We carried out an extensive revamp of our product portfolio. We expanded in all categories and included new models of speakers, headphones, laptop accessories, portable media players, wireless mouse& keyboard, and introduced new categories like power grips. In keeping with the consumers’ emerging digital lifestyles, styling and looks were kept in mind while retaining focus on latest technology. Almost all the new products have been very well received by the channel and the consumers. The regular products that Zebronics has been known for, such as PC cabinets/chassis, power supplies, keyboard/mouse, UPS etc. have also moved well in the market. Overall in 2011 we have tried to diversify the product range under Zebronics brand and we have been successful in this goal. Today, we have one of the widest product lineups in the country.

DIGITAL TERMINAL: How do you see peripherals market in year 2012?

Rajesh: Looking at developments in the tail-end of 2011, it’s going to be a tough year ahead - at least the first few months until the prices stabilize. But we should take this as an opportunity to understand the market better. It would be a good time to carefully expand the product lines by bringing in innovative products. So through tough times, brands with the best mix of innovative products, market-sensitive pricing and good quality will lead. It’s going to be tough through the next few quarters, but we are sure we will emerge successful.

DIGITAL TERMINAL: Which all of your products are doing well in market?

Rajesh: Some of the categories in which the Zebronics brand is well entrenched are 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 points. We plan to aggressively move forward with the same spirit this year to and work collaboratively with our channel to see that our complete range of peripherals find acceptance with the consumers.

DIGITAL TERMINAL: What is adoption rate of Zebronics brand in non-metro cities?

Rajesh: Consumers in the smaller and emerging market cities, in fact pose a bigger challenge. They set higher expectations in terms of price and quality, and are more conscious of product-life. Quite simply, they want great value-for-money – and it is here that Zebronics stands unbeatable. It is our VFM factor which has made us a name to reckon with in many non-metro cities. Presently, 26 branches across the country and that have also helped us penetrate the brand into next-tier markets. Our branch network has reached into locations like Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Cochin, Coimbatore, Dehradun, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Guwahati, Indore, Jaipur, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Nagpur, Patna, Pune, Puducherry, Panchkula, Raipur, Surat and several other towns down the line through channel partners (distributors and dealers). At the same time, we have backed the Zebronics brand with strengthened service network, even at smaller cities. While metros and mid-tier cities have our service centers, smaller towns have Authorized Service Providers and Satellite Care Points. Any Zebronics product can be conveniently serviced at more than 65 centers across India.

DIGITAL TERMINAL: What will be your go to market strategy in coming year?

Rajesh: Our abiding principle of business has been – offer the consumer the best value-for-money possible. That will continue to govern our market strategy in the coming year. We will also be focusing on further improving the post-sales experience for consumers by opening more service centers and giving satisfactory service.

DIGITAL TERMINAL: Kindly share your distribution model in Indian market.

Rajesh: We adapt to the region when structuring our distribution model. We believe the channel partners are the backbone of our business as they take on the role of representing the face of the Zebrionics brand to the consumer. All our partner policies therefore are structured to optimize the business interests of the partners as well as Zebronics. As a result, there is no single distribution model for Zebronics, we have customised the distribution network in different regions according to the needs and expectations of the market.

DIGITAL TERMINAL: What is your current channel strength? Are you planning to appoint new partners?

Rajesh: As already stated, the channel community is very important for any brand. We have great faith in our product lineup, but that may not be enough to survive without channel support. We have quite a vast base of loyal channel partners. The right channel strategy depending on the market situation, is implemented by us from time to time to ensure channels satisfaction and trust in the Zebronics brand We understand the same and hence channel satisfaction is our priority though it remains a continuous, evolving and ever-improving process. We regularly appoint new partners as the market demands – to address specific sub-segments, verticals, geographies or product lines. With recent increased focus on products like speakers, we would be further expanding the network in consumer electronics markets, to add to our channel strengths in the IT products and accessories markets.

DIGITAL TERMINAL: How do you create brand awareness in the market?

Rajesh: We reach to the consumer through various media. Print communication is one of the most important, but not the only one. We are very active on social media, organize regular contests on various websites (including on our own website and facebook page). We send out our products for unbiased reviews to media, specialist reviewers/columnists and domain experts. Participating in college events, road shows and trade shows are a few of our ongoing brand-awareness activities. From time to time we create and update the marketing material for the channel, which we distribute through our offices.

DIGITAL TERMINAL: Are you running any schemes for your partners?

Rajesh: We regularly come up with schemes to enhance our engagement with our partners. As answered before our distribution model has been customized to suit the needs of different regions and segments. The same holds true of our partner schemes - every region has their schemes which suits that market.

DIGITAL TERMINAL: What are your upcoming plans for year 2012?

Rajesh: We are very excited about the coming year. We will be focusing on more innovative products, that incorporate better quality with style. Affordability will continue to be the main platform to build up the Zebronics brand - products with good value-for-money proposition will be the mainstay. We also hope to continue to innovate in our flagship products like chassis. In all of this, we will seek to extend the hand of partnership with the channel community, and look for their support as has always been done.

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