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Changing Channel Preference
 This year we decided to expand the scope of the CRN Channel Champions Survey and break it into two parts. The first part consists of components and consumer products, the second comprises commercial products.
In this issue, we have presented the results in the components and consumer categories. CRN March 1 issue will feature the commercial product categories.
To make our coverage more comprehensive, we have added several new categories. Among PC building blocks, we have added memory modules. In 2008 we had clubbed consumer desktops and notebooks under one category, Consumer PCs. But for the year 2009, we are featuring them as two separate entities. We have added netbooks and home networking to the consumer category as well.
Results of 2009 CRN Channel Champions study suggests that channel expectations have changed significantly during the past 12 months. Having been through a turbulent economy, channels are keen on aligning with vendors that ensure partner profitability and promote fair and transparent business practices.
They don’t want to deal with vendors that are over-distributing, and can’t manage price-parity in the market. They don’t want to deal with companies who pressurize them to sell more with the bait of back-end rebates.
These changes in channel mindset are evident from the results of the printer and notebook category. The 2009 winner, Canon has demonstrated that having the right practices guarantees channel mind share and eventually leads to market share gains.
Over the past two years Canon has done well to streamline its distribution strategy. It has put in place an innovative system that generates daily reports on secondary billing. This system allows Canon to ensure that none of the primary partners are selling the products to tier-2 resellers below the defined MOP. And to ensure that the right message is sent out in to the market, the company even removed a couple of distributors found selling below MOP.
Lenovo, which had serious issues with its channel policies and management in 2008, has made a strong comeback and emerged as the preferred notebook brand. In fact, many respondents in 2008 opined that Lenovo had little chance of succeeding in the Indian consumer market. However, many of the same respondents are now singing its praises. According to them, Lenovo is focusing on partner interests more than any other PC brand. Unlike some of its other competitors, the company doesn’t dump products and pressurize retailers to sell more.
Quick Heal winning the antivirus category second time in a row demonstrates that by keeping channel interests in mind, even a small Indian company can take on large multinationals like Symantec and McAfee.
Clearly the rules of channel engagement have changed and vendors who failed to adapt have lost channel mindshare. |