Channel Chief
 “We plan to launch exclusive stores for selling our consumer PCs”
Viewsonic’s recent foray into the PC market has surprised everyone. Priyanka Chowdhury questions the company’s Country Manager Gautam Ghosh on the logic behind the display vendor’s unexpected move
It’s caught everyone by surprise. So what’s the reason behind your entry into the PC market?
Display is our strength and we see the PC foray as an extension of it. It’s a big step but a natural brand extension for Viewsonic. I can assure you that it’s a well thought out strategy. We had planned to launch the PCs in 2008, but the sudden economic downturn forced us to delay the plan.
We have already demonstrated our all-in-one PC called the ViePC and it has been received well by channels.
Formally, by beginning of September we will make the ViePC available in the market. Our plan is to also supplement the all-in-ones with a netbook range called the VieBook and small form-factor PC called the LinkPC. You will see one model from each range available in the market by September. All the three brands will be based on Intel platform and sport either Atom or Centrino processors.
What is your channel strategy for PCs and kindly provide us details about the pricing of these products?
Presently for our LCD monitors and projectors we have three distributors namely Redington, Roop Technologies, and Priya who sell into our sub-distributors whom we call Master Dealers.
For the PC business we plan to have a different model which will consist of regional distributors. We will have one regional distributor covering each region.
I am not at liberty to disclose pricing strategy for PCs right now. The products will be available in the market from September and we will be launching a strong marketing initiative to create awareness for the new products.
What is the target audience for Viewsonic PCs?
We will focus equally on commercial and home users. The commercial segment will be targeted through large systems integrators and corporate resellers who will be responsible for selling them directly to the corporate, government, and educational segments.
For consumer PCs, we plan to launch our exclusive stores across the country. We will also expand our shop-in-shop counters. Presently we have 80 shop-in-shop counters. We will be leveraging the strong presence we have in LFRs like Croma, Reliance Digital and E-zone.
What are you doing to help your partners grow their businesses in the current market situation?
Our focus over the past several months has been on sell-out. And for this we have been aggressive in providing demo units and merchandise to our partners for their stores. We have also increased our marketing to create more customer demand and thus help partners to sell.
On the partner side, we have been rigorously monitoring the inventory position at every level of the channel. We want to ensure that none of our partner is stuck with large inventory. If a partner has large inventory, we help him first sell the existing stock, before he is allowed to place fresh orders. Since the slowdown began, we have been extra careful about partners hoarding more stocks.
What trends do you foresee in the LCD segment?
This year, we expect an increase in demand for screen sizes like 19 and 22-inch. We expect high definition monitors to make an impact in the market. I also see 3D gaming monitors and LCDs with TV capabilities doing well. New technologies like HD and 3D gaming monitors will revolutionize the gaming and home entertainment space.
Green is the next wave in IT and not only will the next generation of monitors get more power efficient but there will also be focus on eco-friendly disposal of e-waste. Concept products like all-in-one PCs and netbooks that offer mobility and space savings are likely to gain ground.
How are you combating the onslaught of aggressive price-players and PC OEM vendors in the LCD monitor market?
The LCD market has indeed become crowded and cluttered over the past couple of years with several PC OEMs getting aggressive in both the consumer and commercial space. Also we have seen several new price-players enter the market. However, we don’t expect these new entrants to pose much competition to players like us who are well entrenched in the market and have a wide variety of products at competitive prices.
Moreover, we have a wide partner network and support infrastructure which has been built over years and that’s not easy to replicate in a short period.
Going forward I see a massive consolidation in the LCD monitor space. Many small vendors that entered the market over the last couple of years will find it difficult to survive the downturn. Their entry into the market was primarily due to excess availability of LCD panels in the world market. With the slowdown, only LCD players with long term commitment will survive.
While Viewsonic is a technology leader in the LCD space what most partners say is that your post-sales support is not upto mark. In the last CRN Channel Champions survey, you were rated lower on service and support. What is your take on this?
Service and support has more to do with perception. We have and will take various initiatives to build and enhance our service infrastructure. Viewsonic has partnered with the best service provider like Accel Frontline. We also have a call centre in Delhi.
We recently revamped our customer service to provide faster after-sales service and technical support. We introduced value-added services like SMS updates for customers and partners. We are soon planning to come up with region-specific warranty support initiative which will help us address customers’ concerns.
Do you plan to enter into other display segments?
Worldwide, Viewsonic is already present in display segments like digital photo frames and signage. We plan to bring these products to India before mid-2010.
When are you planning to roll out LED monitors?
Viewsonic was the first company to roll out LED monitors worldwide. Last year, we introduced VLED221wm, a 22-inch widescreen LED desktop monitor with the world’s first 12000:1 dynamic contrast ratio. |