By Varun Aggarwal
TPV Technology, known for its AOC brand of LCD monitors, has decided to venture into the television market and is in the process of setting up a manufacturing unit. The company has also expanded its IT portfolio by adding LED monitors and all-in-one (AIO) PCs.
The company aims to leverage its existing IT channels to sell its television products. “Unlike other television companies, we do not have a consumer electronics channel, hence our primary route to market for the newly-launched TV portfolio will be the IT channel. We will have the same distributors for our TV products and monitors,” said Mukesh Gupta, Director, TPV Technology Group.
The company aims to sell one lakh TV units in the country in 2010. The AOC LCD TV is branded as Nautilus, and will be available in all fast-moving sizes—22, 26, 32 and 42-inch. The company intends to position its products at attractive price-points. For instance, the full-feature 22-inch model will be available at Rs 13,000.
“TV is largely a retail product, and hence we will be enabling our IT retail channel. We currently have 2,000 retail partners, and initially we will work closely with 500 of them to promote and sell the new portfolio,” added Saurabh Grover, Deputy General Manager, Sales and Marketing, TPV Technology.
TPV is also in the process of setting up a TV manufacturing plant in the country; it is likely to be operational by next year.
The company has also launched its AIO range with a touch-screen interface. It is available in 18.5 and 22-inch sizes, and in four different processor variants. The 22-inch AIO PC is priced at approximately Rs 50,000. “Our AIO PCs are priced at least Rs 20,000 lower than comparable products. Targeted at the affluent buyer, we will initially sell the product through large retail outlets, and have already signed with Reliance Digital. Eventually, we plan to sign up 50 retail partners in each city for the AIO,” Gupta disclosed.
There are also plans to open exclusive stores in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. The company already has an exclusive store in Bengaluru.
Said Atul Mehta, CEO, Compuage Infocomm, the company’s regional distributor in the southern and central region, “We have already developed a joint strategy with AOC to distribute LCD TVs.”
According to TPV, it sold 24 lakh units of LCD monitors in 2009 in the country. 6.5 lakh of these were AOC-branded, while the rest were sold to OEMs, giving the company an almost 33 percent share of the overall LCD monitor market. In the new fiscal, the company plans to sell over 25 lakh monitors, of which 10 lakh will be AOC-branded. |