By Sonal Desai, CRN, January 11, 2012, 1500 hrs
Aurangabad-based retailer has planned to set up an exclusive multi-brand tablet retail store with anticipation that tablets will soon erode the consumer PC market.
The sub-distributor and retailer have eight Lenovo and Toshiba exclusive stores, and eight more multi-brand stores. In FY2010-11 it clocked Rs 25 crore in revenue of which Rs 10.5 crore came from retail.
The motivation to start the tablet store came from an analysis of the segment. According to Prakash Pramod Dere, Director, Cyber Peripherals, “Apple and Samsung are aggressive. Smaller brands such as HCL and iBall, and mid-market brands like Lenovo and Acer, are also pushing their tablets. Aakash, priced at Rs 1,700 (for students and teachers) is getting this market extra attention. Tablets are presently eating into the netbooks market, and 2-3 years down the line they will be competing with notebooks.”
Cyber has already readied the 300 square feet store in Aurangabad, and is looking forward to launch the store officially toward February 2012. The company is targeting mobile entrepreneurs who want to substitute their laptops with a good device that is lighter in weight and long lasting in terms of battery life.
Cyber currently sells 20 Apple and Samsung tablets a month, but aims to sell much more once its tablet store starts.
“At present the tablet market is really scattered. Buyers do not know whether to approach a mobile shop, an IT retailer or an LFR. We are confident of getting more footfalls because we can offer the widest range and best advice to customers,” Dere said. |