HP leads all the way
By K R Nambiar
The advent of cheaper mobile computers is considered the prime reason for the declining growth of the desktop computer market. The price difference between similarly configured desktop and mobile computers has narrowed down to just about 20-30 percent, a premium many consumers are willing to pay.
It is estimated that during 2006-2007, more than 4.6 million desktops were shipped across the country. While MNC and local branded vendors garnered around 67 percent marketshare, the assembled marketshare hit a low of around 32 percent.
Market research indicates that in 2006-2007 HP has overtaken domestic brand HCL as the largest desktop vendor, and has secured a 17 percent share of the market. Lenovo, Acer and Dell are the other leading players in the arena.
Almost all top vendors have clearly demarcated their branding, sales and marketing strategies for both consumers and commercial users (SMB, government, corporate and other verticals), with separate teams for these markets.
IT retailing has come of age and over the past year or two and an estimated 2,500 new retail outlets have mushroomed.
Also, vendors have started positioning various PC models depending on the territory, with low-end value-priced models targeted at B- and C-class cities.
Channel relationship
Many resellers consider the channel strategies of vendors as a key reason to associate with them. Here again HP, which has the largest numbers of resellers for a PC brand, does better than other brands. The participants of our survey felt that transparency in making backend claims and simplicity of the claiming process were important.
Prompt reimbursement of backend rebates and incentives was a criterion which respondents used to identify their choice of a preferred desktop brand. HP was the most preferred vendor, and its process-driven approach scored over approaches where human intervention is required.
Some of the respondents complained that the lead generation and sharing mechanism followed by select vendors was not fair. Also, the perception that some vendors played favorites reflected in the survey.
While the price of PCs from a vendor was important, more resellers complained that price-parity was an issue. Many of our respondents believe that price-parity does not exist, and most vendors pass on
better discounts to their competitors or volume players.
While HP scored better on almost all counts, when it came to channel friendliness tier-3 cities cited HCL as their preferred brand.
Branding and marketing
Brand awareness was another key criterion for most of our respondents who believe that a well-known brand helps them to push products more aggressively.
Resellers, especially those from upcountry, feel that celebrity endorsements have brought in brand awareness, and hence helped them sell the products better. They are also of the view that localized marketing programs, which are now supported by all top vendors, are helping them to sell better.
There is growing concern about vendors undercutting and going direct to the customers, particularly among respondents from large metros.
HP as an entity commands maximum brand appeal as a desktop vendor. Its dual branding strategy of promoting Compaq as a value brand, and HP Pavilion as premium brand in retail segment has worked well.
Lenovo, which highlighted the features of some of its higher-end products in its campaigns, has managed to gain better mindshare and has received a higher rating from respondents in larger metros. HCL once again did better in the tier-3 cities. Acer was seen to be strong in certain pockets, notably Kerala, parts of Andhra Pradesh, Lucknow and Gujarat. Respondents say that Zenith marketing aggression is on a decline and there is not much brand visibility in tier-1 and tier-2 cities.
Service and support
Pre-sales support, especially on making joint calls to customers, or arranging fresh credit lines to finance large deals, are an important area where resellers seek support from vendors. Post-sales support packages and availability of authorized service partners or service centers in the local town or city are also considered important.
HCL, with its financing options in smaller cities, comes second to HP in pre-sales. However, the winner is once again HP, with HCL coming second, closely followed by Lenovo. On warranty support HP was ranked first
followed by HCL and Lenovo.
Price-performance
Features and technology were of little significance for the resellers who took part in our poll. They found little to differentiate in most of the mainstream products sold by the vendors as most PC manufacturers source their building blocks from the same OEM suppliers. Another concern for most respondents is the declining margins in the business.
Product availability
Product availability was of least concern for most respondents in the A-class cities and most of the B-class cities. As most vendors have fine-tuned their channels to sell entry-level, low-cost products in C-class cities, this was not a top-of-mind concern for many resellers in smaller towns. HP, by virtue of being the most widely distributed brand, was again the leader, followed by HCL, Lenovo, Acer and Zenith.
Conclusion
HP was the overall winner and was also voted No 1 in most of the criteria. The company’s long legacy of being a channel-friendly company has endeared it to most. Whether it is HP’s channel programs or schemes, or manpower deployed to serve channels, most respondents put it right on top. Lenovo follows HP as the second most preferred vendor as far as Indian channels go. To Lenovo’s credit, it has been a relatively new entrant, and its predecessor IBM, despite being a much bigger brand to reckon with, was not aggressive enough when it took the channel route. This means Lenovo is still doing a catching-up game, but with former India Intel head Amar Babu moving in to take over operations, Lenovo might soon be on its way to bridge the gap.
Intro
l Microprocessors l Hard Disk Drive l Flat Panel Display l Optical Disk Drives l Notebook l Anti-virus l Inkjet Printers l Laser Printer l Server l Networking l Enterprise Storage l Enterprise Security |