|
Rupesh Sharma
General Secretary,
JCDA
How big is the Jalandhar IT market?
There are about 100 active resellers in the market, collectively selling 1,000 PCs in a month.
What are the drivers for IT growth?
Several educational institutions are being set up in the city. At present there are around 100 institutes, including engineering and management. Home is an equally dominant segment. Besides, we also have a huge SMB presence.
About 50 percent of the total IT demand is from the education segment, followed by the SMB with 30 percent and the rest is from the home segment.
What are the buying trends?
Notebooks constitute nearly 50 percent of the total PC sales. In case of desktops, 65 percent sales is from the assembled market and the rest from branded desktop market.
While notebook demand is mainly triggered by the student community, SMBs have also shown interest. On the other hand, home segment fuels demand for desktops.
Besides notebooks and desktops, a product that is in vogue is netbook—thanks to its size and price point. Several vendors have launched their netbooks recently, so there is a fair amount of curiosity. In the last two months, we have sold around 10 netbooks. We usually see school children or first-timers opt for them.
What are the key challenges faced by resellers?
The major problem we face is the lack of commitment from vendors. To push their product, they float attractive schemes locally. But when it comes to honoring the schemes, they hesitate. Sales
representatives squarely put the blame on their seniors.
Of late, the post warranty support has also become an issue. Earlier a vendor like HP used to take not more than three to four days to revert back, but now the time taken is not less than 15 days.
What activities are organized by the city’s IT association?
Our association, Jalandhar Computer Dealers Association (JCDA), formed 10 years ago, has 100 members currently. We regularly organize seminars for our members in association with vendors. |