“We are set to cross Rs. 250 million marks”

“We are set to cross Rs. 250 million marks”

Storage technology has completely changed today as it used to be few years a go. The demand for Flash storage has increased tremendously among consumers so vendors have enormous opportunities. Ramesh Tuli, Country Head, Verbatim India shares his company channel plans while talking exclusively with DIGITAL TERMINAL.

DIGITAL TERMINAL:How do you see the growth of Flash Storage market in India?

Ramesh Tuli: Digital storage technology is in a transition phase. Many changes are taking place simultaneously. In consumer portable storage category, there is transition taking place from optical media to flash memory products. Flash storage technology continues to become more and more sophisticated. It is more energy efficient, easier to use, and up to 10-times faster than its other counterpart.

DIGITAL TERMINAL: Where do you find Verbatim in Indian market?

Ramesh Tuli: Verbatim has showcased steady growth since its inception. We started operations with Zero business. Initially we launched Optical media and gradually we introduced other Flash and Hard drive products. Despite many challenges like Anti Dumping duty in Optical media, unfavorable US$ trend, roller coaster price trend in Flash etc., we have done quite well in last few years. In the current year, we are set to cross Rs. 250 million marks.

Verbatim has its own warehousing and distribution network in India. We are currently present in all the four regions of India and covering all the major metros and mini metros .Our business is supported by more than 50 distributors and network of approximately 1800 dealers.

DIGITAL TERMINAL: What are the best technologies Verbatim offering to its consumers?

Ramesh Tuli: I feel that Verbatim has complete solution for the digital storage needs of most of the consumers. In optical media we have complete range of CDs, DVDs, Blu Ray Disc and in specialized segment we have Gold media, Inkjet, Thermal printable and Light scribe.

In USB we have more than 6 different models - form normal USB to USB with special SIP technology. In Memory cards we have entire range of class 4 to class10 products in SD and Micro SD versions.

In external Hard drives we have complete range of 2.5 inch and 3.5 Inch with special Apple series in Freecom and networking products like NAS, RAID and Quattro drives.

In SSD we have both SATA 2 and SATA 3 versions up to 480 GB. I can proudly say that Verbatim is one of the few companies who have very high quality range in all the categories with competitive price.

DIGITAL TERMINAL: Which are the current working areas for your company?

Ramesh Tuli: Verbatim offers high quality products in the field of Floppy Disks and Magneto-Optical storage media, CD, DVD, DVD Double Layer, Lightscribe CD & DVD to the latest High Definition media Bluray disc. , Portable USB Drives, Flash Memory Cards, Solid State Drive (SSD) and External Hard Drives as well as a broad variety of Computer Accessories (Wireless Laser Bluetooth & Gaming Mice).

DIGITAL TERMINAL: How do you sell your products in India? (Distribution Model/ Channel Strength)

Ramesh Tuli: We have our own warehousing and distribution network in India. We are currently present in all the four regions of India and covering all the major metros and mini metros. Our business is supported by more than 50 distributors and network of approximately 1800 dealers.

DIGITAL TERMINAL: Are you planning to appoint new partners? What criteria you will be looking for your new partners?

Ramesh Tuli: To boost up our sales in the upcountry market , various options are available, one of the options is to tie up with distribution company , Since we have different verticals hence it is difficult for single distributor to justify the business in all the verticals because of the different channels.

In terms of strategy as you know the storage products channel is fragmented hence it is very challenging to find common distributors for the entire product range. Since new categories are introduced we will try to find the specialist channel partners for the different verticals

DIGITAL TERMINAL: What are your initiatives to increase consumers and partners awareness?

Ramesh Tuli: We are continuously focusing on expanding and broad basing our customer base; In order to achieve this we are doing branding in select stores, which helps us and our partners to create awareness.

In this Quarter we have started the Advertisement Campaign in trade newspaper where in we are showcasing our Product Range featuring Product’s USPs.

DIGITAL TERMINAL: What sell support you offer to your partners? What are the margins for your partner?

Ramesh Tuli: Partners are supported through our sales team and also supported by competitive Price, Promotional Material for the Store and Schemes announced time to time. The margins are purely depends on the partners and situation however I am proudly say that we are quite competitive in margin as well.

DIGITAL TERMINAL: What will be your marketing strategy for Q3 & Q4?

Ramesh Tuli: In addition to the promotion and awareness in trade channel, we are planning to rollout End Customer Marketing Campaign, where in customers are directly linked with Verbatim Product Buy.

DIGITAL TERMINAL: What are your upcoming plans?

Ramesh Tuli: In optical media we have launched Blu Ray Double layer and soon we will launching triple layer. In USB we have introduced USB 3 versions. This super speed USB drives offers up to 2 times faster transfer rate than earlier generation USB 2.0 ports.

In external hard drive we have fully migrated to USB 3 and SSD SATA II and SATA III have been introduced.

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