Where will the ‘not so tech-savvy’ layman head for if he had to buy an IT product, say, a mobile handheld computing device? The answer is simple. He would be totally lost.
Of course, we have our Lamington Road and Nehru Place and Ritchie Street and S. P. Road. But how many non-IT savvy end-users do you find visiting these places? Leave alone buying, you won’t find even window shoppers frequenting these places. And no, it’s not due to any lack of interest in checking out the latest gadgets available. Let’s just accept the fact. Shopping for IT products in any of these aforementioned IT hubs is definitely not one of the most wonderful experiences a customer can have.
To begin with, let’s take a few factors which today’s customers generally look for in a preferred shopping locality. At the top of the list would be accessibility followed by the milieu – availability of parking facilities, the range of products showcased, the variety of choices available, entertainment options, and the overall shopping experience. Now if you take any of these markets, most might meet the first criterion, but definitely not the rest.
Contrast this with Singapore’s Sim Lim Square or even Dhaka’s IT Mall, and one might have the answer for the almost negligible interest shown by the aam janatha in things IT. Of course, we have a TechMall coming up in Mumbai. And the partners in Delhi can expect some stiff competition from the Chinese thanks to a Rs 150-crore mall that is expected to come up in the capital by this October.
But how can the channel partner gain? Well, instead of complaining about the competition from the retail sector, it would be advisable to explore the options available. Consolidation would be a good idea. It would help the channel showcase a wider range of products, instead of a few select products – this doesn’t do justice to neither the vendor who is launching newer products on a regular basis nor the customer who is denied the various options truly available to him.
Another option would be for the channel partners to come together and set up a shopping center on the lines of Mumbai’s infamous Heera Panna. Here each dealer would have his exclusivity while the customer would benefit from the exposure to multiple products and brands under one roof. An advantage here would be the immense IT experience gained over the years. At the end of the day it’s better to join the fray than be wiped out.