Sonal Desai, CRN, January 2, 2012, 1500 hrs
This is perhaps the first of its kind in the country that a partner has gone all-out to open an accessories only retail store.
Jyotin Shah, CEO, JS Equipment, the sole importer of Apple accessories in India, decided to take a plunge into retail, and started Just Komputing, an accessories only retail store at the up-market Kemps Corner in South Mumbai.
“We stock Apple accessories for iPhone, iPad, Macbooks, laptop bags, etc. We studied customer behavior for a while before deciding to start the store. For an iPad worth Rs 40,000, a person spends Rs 4,000 on protection. Similarly, for Blackberry phones worth Rs 20,000, a buyer spends Rs 2,000 for the case, and for an iPhone worth Rs 50,000, I have seen people spending Rs 15,000 on accessories. It was a well thought–out strategy,” said Shah.
Women are buying the The Swarovski crystal, and the youth are going for funky bag stickers. Besides cases and screen protectors, Shah sells Bluetooth wireless with Smartphones, antiglare and stylus with tablets and carry bags, antiglare screen, keyboard protector, palm guard and screen cleaners for notebooks. The accessories give him a neat 30 percent margin vis-à-vis eight to 10 percent on a PC.
Shah has set a sales target of Rs 1.5 crore in the first year of operations. “I am expecting to break-even in two months. We have started placing ads in the Bombay Times. Next month onward, we would insert leaflets in newspapers, and ads on the FM Radio. Word-by-mouth publicity is also helping. This apart, I am also working with vendors for product positioning (eg; one rack per product),” he added.
Rubbishing doubts that the stand-alone accessory store may not stand tall amidst retail stores selling all IT products, he said, “It is not necessary that customer buys accessories from the same shop he purchased his equipment. There is a drift between quality driven and routine.”
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