Motherboard
Gigabyte springs a surprise
Motherboards was a fiercely contested category among the three major players—Asus, Gigabyte and Intel—who made the final cut. Other players such as MSI, Mercury and Biostar failed to make it because they polled less than 10 percent of the overall category votes.
To our surprise, Gigabyte turned the tables on both Intel and Asus to emerge as the most preferred channel vendor, although by a thin margin. In the 2008 Channel Champions survey, Gigabyte was ranked third behind Intel and Asus.
According to respondents, what worked in Gigabyte’s favor were its aggressive pricing and channel marketing, expanded distribution network and enhanced post-sales support.
Last year’s winner Intel failed to win the top spot due to inconsistencies in its sub-distribution strategy and a lack of price aggressiveness. The vendor was also hampered by brief periods of product shortages during the year. Its post-sales support still needs attention, as was the case in 2008.
Asus, which had won praise for its post-sales support in 2008, came a close third in 2009. Respondents opined that Asus’ strategy of having a single national distributor needs review because in some areas where its exclusive partner (Rashi Peripherals) is not strong the motherboard vendor suffers in both sales and post-sales support. The company’s channel marketing was also weak.
Product availability
Intel is the most widely distributed, and the most in demand too. However, throughout the year, the company faced brief periods of shortages in some models.
Gigabyte ramped up its distribution coverage at the beginning of 2009 by signing up several sub-distributors across the country; this increased its market penetration multi-fold. However, the company needs to strengthen its coverage and channel penetration in the north.
While Asus is well-distributed across all regions, respondents said that the tough market scenario in 2009 saw Rashi turning extremely cautious in providing credit financing; this impacted the distribution and availability of Asus products in H1 2009.
Price-performance
Respondents still stand by Intel’s superior performance, despite the fact that its products are sold at 10-15 percent premium. While both Asus and Gigabyte are perceived to be good on performance, Gigabyte ranked second on this parameter as it is priced lower than Asus. Gigabyte was also more aggressive in launching new products as compared to its peers.
Partner profitability
Asus ranked higher on this parameter followed by Gigabyte and Intel. Respondents opined that Intel leaves lower margins for partners although it’s a premium-priced product. Interestingly, while respondents suggested that Asus needs to increase its distributor partners, on this parameter they said that having a single distributor (Rashi) ensures less price discounting, and thus margins on Asus products are assured.
Marketing and training
In terms of branding, Intel has the strongest customer pull. The company also conducts partner training camps twice a year across 60 cities. In addition, Intel has the best partner marketing and communication systems; as a result, partners receive regular updates from the company on new products and prices.
While Gigabyte rates lower than Asus when it comes to customer pull, where the company scored was in channel marketing. Throughout the year Gigabyte ran schemes for registered resellers and partners, and conducted training events.
Asus was weak in channel marketing. Many respondents pointed out that unlike in the previous years, Rashi did not do any annual channel event in their city in 2009. There were also fewer channel schemes from Asus during the year.
Post-sales support
Gigabyte, whose support structure was adjudged weak in 2008, was rated as the best post-sales provider in 2009. The company introduced a doorstep pick-up and delivery service for its motherboards in mid-2009. Through its partnership with Accel and Digicom, the company now has a post-sales presence in 88 locations.
Asus, which was rated highly in post-sales support in 2008, came second in 2009. The company polled lower channel satisfaction on warranty support in the eastern and western region, something the company needs to work on.
Although Intel signed up with a new national service partner in Redington, respondents said its post-sales support still needs improvement.
Channel policy and management
On overall channel engagement and relationship management, Gigabyte ranked first, followed by Asus and then Intel. Respondents said that while Intel is good with its channel marketing, it lacks the personal touch in its channel engagement; quite a few respondents stated that Intel is no more keen on developing system builder channels. Further, Intel’s change in sub-distribution policies has left a bitter taste among some large dealers.
Gigabyte’s overall channel policies and engagement were rated higher than Asus in all regions except the south where Rashi has a strong presence. Many partners opined that in geographies where Rashi doesn’t have a strong presence Asus suffers in both sales and post-sales support.
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