Home Networking
D-Link the preferred brand
With the increasing penetration of broadband connectivity in the country, the adoption of wireless networking products in the home and SOHO is on the rise. Recognizing this, we introduced the home networking category in this year’s CRN Channel Champions survey.
Backed by top scores in product availability, post-sales support, and channel policy and management, D-Link emerged as the most channel-preferred brand in the home networking category.
Linksys has seen improved distribution and market penetration over the last year after signing up with Compuage and HCL. The company has increased its channel engagement, and has also become price competitive, thus giving it the second spot.
Netgear had distribution issues, particularly in the north and east. Many Netgear partners suggested that the company wasn’t aggressive in its channel engagement and marketing.
Belkin was a surprise entrant, making it to the fourth place. The company has increased the availability and visibility of its products in the market over the last four to five months, and respondents appreciated the company’s strategy to offer a 5-year warranty.
Product availability
D-Link was clearly ahead of others on the availability parameter, with a consistent score across all four regions. Linksys scored well on pan-India availability too. Netgear products were not so well-distributed in the east and north; however, in the south and west, the company enjoys good market penetration.
Belkin has literally no presence in the east, and a very small market presence in the north. In the south, the company’s products are well distributed, and in the west the company reported good availability in class A and B cities, but lacked distribution in class C cities.
Price-performance
Linksys was ranked highest on price-performance, followed by D-Link, Netgear and Belkin. Channel perception suggests that Linksys is the best among peers when it comes to product quality and features. Also, the company has price-positioned its products aggressively to compete at par with both D-Link and Netgear.
An entry-level home networking router from all the three brands is available in a price range of Rs 1,500-1,600. Respondents said that since Belkin was a new entrant in the market they still needed to test its performance. Also, its higher average selling price (ASP) of Rs 1,800 may not be the right market strategy.
Partner profitability
D-Link offers the lowest margins while Belkin offers the highest margins to resellers on unit sales. However, by virtue of being the most-sold brand, D-Link scored higher on this parameter followed by Linksys, Netgear and Belkin.
Marketing and training
This criterion includes brand-pull, customer and channel marketing, and training. D-Link enjoys a strong brand-pull among customers because it’s been around for a long time in the market. Netgear too has a high brand recall compared to Linksys and Belkin. Many customers still don’t know that Linksys is a Cisco brand.
D-Link is also more forceful in advertising, and does more channel marketing than any other brand. The company regularly sends pricing information and brochures to channels. It also conducts channel training once a year. While Netgear is weak in customer marketing, it did run a series of channel marketing schemes. However, many resellers in small cities complained that they got the information about the schemes only after they were over. According to many respondents, Linksys needs to come up with more channel schemes and point-of-sale marketing. Many retailers believe that Belkin can really do well on point-of-sale marketing due to its large portfolio of accessories and options.
Post-sales support
This includes warranty, toll-free phone and Web support. D-Link is the only brand that offers consistent service and support across all four zones of the country. With local service centers in several cities, repair turnaround time is quick.
Linksys has improved its warranty support. However, having to send products for repair to Accel India’s Chennai repair center often leads to delays in servicing warranty complaints from smaller cities.
According to respondents, Netgear faced issues with the adapter of one of its router models. Respondents said that the warranty turnaround for Netgear was longer than for D-Link and Linksys.
Belkin’s 5-year warranty has been appreciated. However, most respondents who have sold Belkin products said that they haven’t yet experienced the company’s warranty support mechanism because they have started dealing in its products only recently.
Channel policy and management
With its annual channel meets and wider channel engagement, D-Link is rated higher in channel management and relations. Linksys, which 12 months ago was focused only on the top 10 cities, has done well to improve its channel engagement and responsiveness in class B cities; it has created a network of local sales executives in many of these cities. However, when one goes to class C cities the channel engagement and management is missing.
Many Netgear partners complained that the company needs to engage more, at least with its key partners. The feedback emerging from some of the company’s partners is that the company has become heavily reliant on a set of sub-distributors, and is paying less attention to reseller expectations. Because it’s a new entrant, Belkin still has to prove its mettle.
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