Since its entry into the Indian market, Asus has been calling the shots in the industry. VARIndia looks at how the company is operating in the competitive landscape.
Asus has manoeuvred its way into a position of great strength in the otherwise fiercely competitive Indian market. The company’s growth has come from a blend of pragmatism and its exploration of new markets for growth.
Asked about slowdown, Vinay Shetty, Country Manager, Component Business Unit, Asus India, says, “In India, buying has slowed down. In the first quarter, we did not see much of an impact. In the second quarter (April, May and June), the first two months were sluggish, but in June it picked up. Overall, as per our expectations at the beginning of the year, we have put up a fairly good performance.”
In the third quarter, we are witnessing lots of buying from the consumers. With the establishment of a stable government at the Centre, positive signs are on the anvil,” says Vinay.
He adds, “We actually feel that the third and fourth quarters would be the changing period from global recession to the positive period. As a matter of fact, recession was the phenomenon of 2008 and we were reeling under its pressure in the first half of 2009. Industry has taken the corrective measures. Automatically, the second half of 2009 will be very different. So, the recession is almost out.”
Taiwanese IT behemoth Asus plans to boost its distribution channel across the Middle East as the vendor pushes beyond its core components business. Asus will use Gitex to spread awareness about its entire product range, spanning what it refers to as 3C: computers, communications and consumer electronics.
“ASUS is a technology-oriented company providing leading-edge innovation and the best value solutions to our entire customer base,” adds Vinay.
In the last ten years, Asus has devoted its energies to developing, producing and marketing its products. In the process, the Taiwanese IT behemoth has been able to create a stronger brand proposition in India.
Since its entry into the Indian market, Asus has aggressively expanded across the country, establishing a strong presence in the Indian booming market with a portfolio of industry-leading products and an extensive distribution network.
Since the start of its operations in India, Asus has witnessed stellar growth in India not only in terms of revenues but also in manpower. What sets the company apart from competition is its wide range of product portfolio coupled with complete client focus and strong channel strategy.
“Asus would always like to sell the right product, and telling right and selling right is Asus philosophy, selling right you sell the right product, you sell it to the right customer, you sell it at the right place,” says Vinay.
Asus believes that after effective distribution of products in the country, there is a need to impart effective training to the partners.
Channel Engagements in the First Half
Vinay says, “As I said earlier, Asus is a technology company. We have introduced products which are channel based. Secondly, we focussed a lot on the channel programmes not in terms of incentives, but in terms of giving channel partners a lot of training.”
“Training plays a pivotal role in our scheme of channel initiatives. How to sell the product right is our initiative. Since the slowdown was making its impact felt strongly, the idea uppermost in the minds of our channel partners was how to increase their profitability,” adds Vinay.
This could be done either by providing more margins, or they know how to sell the product, because Asus has a feature-rich product, and each feature has a value. If they could sell that product based on that, they would get their margin. In India, end-users are not that cash drought, they are cash sufficient, though not cash rich.
“But you need to know what to sell to your customers. So, we are engaged in those kinds of programmes rather than just introducing incentive progmames, rebates, etc.,” adds Vinay.
In first half of the year, I would say that Asus was probably one of those companies, which took almost 175 partners on a global trip. We have almost 80 partners going to New Zealand, around 125 partners going to Dubai. In the first and second quarters, we launched gold schemes. So, these incentives and rebates were there but the value addition was the training programme we were providing.
Secondly, we were more conservative in setting targets for them. We did not want them to stretch too much so that they had no difficulty in accomplishing them.
“Asus is a technology company. It would always like to sell the right product to the right customer, sell it at the right place. Selling right and selling more is Asus philosophy,” adds Vinay.
Vinay says, “You sell more volumes and you get more profit. So selling right and selling more are very much interlinked, complementary to each other.”
Asus’s Channel Engagement in Maharasthra
Primarily, we have a distribution network through Rashi Pheripherals. They have their branches in almost eight locations in Maharasthra. We are holding events and activities in places like Amravati, Nagpur and Kolhapur.
“We have taken initiatives of training progammes. But we have something in plan in the second half and probably in the first half of 2010.”
Finally…
For Asus, India offers a huge market and tapping it was always going to be a major challenge. However, with sustained efforts to understand the needs of this important market, Asus has done well.
