By K R Nambiar
Kobian plans to spruce up its channel business. The vendor is planning to introduce a new partner loyalty program and will roll out a number of life-style products targeting the high-end customers.
“We are planning a series of road shows to educate partners. We will be announcing a loyalty program soon for partners who have been doing consistent business with us and to avoid opportunity-based business,” said Sushmita Das, Country Manager, Kobian India.
Kobian is presently distributed exclusively by Inspan Infotech. “We are happy with Inspan’s performance and hence are not looking to sign up new distributors right now. But in future, we are open to reviewing other distribution options.”
Kobian’s primary focus in 2009 is to increase its penetration in upcountry locations. “The depleting market share of system builders and the negative growth of desktops especially in major cities have affected most components vendors. We expect smaller cities to contribute healthy business,” explained Das.
Also to compensate for the slow growth of the components business, Kobian is planning to launch lifestyle products. Last year the company launched a high-end brand called iXA for I/O devices and recently introduced notebooks and mobile accessories under the same brand.
Das blamed the drop in market share of Mercury motherboards on the below-the-cost sales strategies of its competitors. “Till September 2008 we sold roughly 1.5 lakh units per quarter through the channel, and were second only to Intel. We took a conscious decision to lower our channel inventory as we didn’t want our partners to overstock and suffer from price undercutting,” she said.
Kobian is also planning to boost its support infrastructure from 25 cities to 32 through Kaizen Infoserve, its independent service arm. |