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Dr Gupta Prasad Sahu
Secretary,
Jeypore Computer Dealers Association
How big is the Jeypore IT market?
Being a small market, Jeypore has only 22 active resellers selling around 150 PCs per month. We have seen a growth of merely 20 percent in the last one year. The recession has affected IT market here which has led to a fall in the demand for products.
What are the drivers for IT growth?
Home and educational segments are the major drivers for the IT market, contributing around 70 percent of the revenues. The remaining 30 percent comes from corporate and government segments. While most of the demand from the corporate segment comes from various industries like paper mills and rice and cashew processing units; we do not receive substantial demand from Nalco and Hal as they deal directly with the vendors. However, the ancillary companies generate substantial amount of demand.
What are the buying trends?
Customers prefer assembled PCs to branded PCs as most vendors do not have their service centers in the city. Lifestyle products like MP3 players and home theater systems are also much in demand from the home segment. From the corporate segment we usually see a demand for desktops, peripherals and networking products.
What are the key challenges facing resellers?
Replacement of products is the main challenge faced by resellers in Jeypore. Being a small city, none of the vendors have service centers here. As most of the service centers are present in cities like Bhubaneshwar and Vishakapatnam, we have to travel to these cities to get our products replaced. Hence, not only is it time consuming for us but is also quite expensive.
What are the activities organized by your association?
Formed around two years back, our association, the Jeypore Computer Dealers Association (JCDA) has a total of 22 members. Other than holding regular seminars and debates, we also try to take up initiatives. We recently held free service camps in different locations in Jeypore. Last year, we had organized our first IT expo called the Jeypore Green IT expo for three days. Owing to its success, we intend to hold the expo for five days next year. |