The Indian IT distribution market is undergoing a dramatic shift in its nature. Unlike the early days, the mammoth sized national distributors are less demanding these days. Rather, vendors are choosing regional, small in outfit, distributors to the bigger national distributors. For example, LG prefers regional distributors over national. Similarly, Samsung, who is more ardent believer of national distributors, has started maintaining a hybrid system of distribution. Actually, distribution business is defined in terms of the scale of economy. And the time is ripe that this business got redefined and vendors entrusting more responsibility and power upon the regional and fairly smaller players. The case in point is Fortune Marketing, the Delhi-based importer and distributor has been given a status of national distributor by Seagate.
VARIndia attempted to delve deep into this organization and recollection of Manoj Gupta, CEO, Fortune Marketing, who believes in the Gandhian ideology of “Honesty is the Best Policy”.Â
Recently, Fortune Marketing came into the media glare because of Seagate’s decision to scale up Fortune as their national distributor. A leading importer and distributor, Fortune Marketing was incorporated in 1994 with a distinctive objective of providing IT range of quality products in and around Delhi. Apart from their presence in Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and Noida, their distribution activities have been extended to other parts of the country as well. With its headquarters in Delhi, Fortune has positioned its Retail outlet in Nehru Place, the hub of IT activities.Â
From system integrators to resellers and from corporate customers to the end-users, all can have assortments of computer products under one roof (Fortune Marketing). Particularly, a dedicated team focussing on corporate and SME clients help offering solutions, as per their requirements. Fortune Service Centre located in Delhi has well-equipped infrastructure and strength of 10 engineers, capable of handling all kinds of products.
From metros to that of small B- and C-class cities, today Fortune is trying to make its presence felt in almost all the places like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Cochin, to name a few.Â
The banyan tree (Fortune Marketing) just started a few years back with a modest initiative. It all started when Manoj Gupta, under his uncle’s surveillance decided to set up his own business. In 1988, he came back from Calcutta where he was trying to lighten the business burden of his uncle P. D. Gupta in Sujata Electronics. Bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, he started his own company “Semi Con Systems” with an initial seed capital of Rs.10 lakh.Â
The major turning point came in 1994 with the opening of “Fortune Marketing”. Though the operations started in 1995, the seeds were sown much before. Initially, dealing with the run rate products like CPUs, Cabinets, CD ROM and motherboards, the path to glory drove them from a regional distributor to that of national distributor. Now, Fortune Marketing is considered among the top players in IT. Since then, he never looked back and walked the road to success with full determination honesty and hard work.Â
Today, Fortune has its own offices in 14 cities, which include Chennai, Noida, Banglore, Kolkata, Mumbai, Cochin, etc. Including these areas, the products are also distributed across the country with the help of 2,000 resellers. Recently, in three months, they have opened four branches in Jaipur, Pune Ludhiana, and Indore. They are now looking forward to opening some more branches in the B- and C-class cities. Fortune now caters to a large range of product portfolio competing with some big names in the country. With nearly 500 products in their kitty, they have become the one-stop shop for most of the IT requirements. Products ranging from that of Bluetooth, Gaming Products, HDD, Mobile products, Notebook accessories to that of RAM, Sound Cards, Speakers, all USBs and VGAs, they have almost all the add-on products required in IT. One can find brands like Enter, Seagate, HighPoint, Maxto, Sunix, RAID Store, ACARD, etc. under one roof.
I think the highest degree of recognition for Fortune has come after its being National Distie for Seagate. Manoj said, “We have been associated with them for the last 3–4 years, but doing business directly would definitely help us to make a mark and as we are more focussed on HDD, this will definitely help us in garnishing our business further.”Â
“Seagate is a world leader in hard disc drives, and enjoys a very strong brand loyalty in India. Seagate’s external drives and branded solutions are a major draw in the retail market,” he added.Â
With a vision to give customers value for their money, Fortune procures products from suppliers across the globe with highest industrial standards. However, the main focus area of the company is the high-end products as these are the backbone of the company. Any product launched outside India is immediately looked after by Fortune to bring home. Manoj says, “We always believe in technological advancement and see to the fact that they are way ahead among their competitors.”Â
After-sales support is another strength of Fortune. Over a period of time, Fortune has developed a fully operational and competent technical team, employing more than 100 persons for providing maximum support to the customers. The branches are fully equipped to handle complete sales and post-sale activities. In Delhi itself, they have 10 engineers for technical support. As for other branches, they deploy two engineers for each branch. Sufficient stocks are available at each branch to cater to local demand. Also, they are equipped with 24 hour broadband connectivity. Apart from this, the in-house mini ERP system ensures smooth operations of all the connected activities. The company really wants to broad-base its service level. Therefore, very soon one can see Fortune service centres in places like Orissa, Nagpur, Chhatisgarh, etc. So, the company also wants to improve on its geographical reach by providing the partners better warranty services and updating them with more and more new and innovative products.Â
This year, Fortune has achieved a turnover of close-to Rs.115 crore, out of which the resellers contributed to the tune of 70 per cent, whereas OEMs and SIs contributed 10 per cent and 20 per cent, respectively. From the products perspective, Fortune’s Hard Disk Drive business generates 50 per cent of the total revenue.
Finally…Â
Having been in IT for more than 26 years, Manoj wants to excel more and more in business and expectedly would not limit his hunger for business to only Seagate. Most likely, he will soon associate himself with Surveillance Security Cam business. For him, the future course of business will be decided by the complementing and aligning nature of the business.
