IIPM Admission 2010

Tuesday, March 02, 2010

Delighting dealers?

Says Srikant Gokhle, CEO, Impact Retail (which owns the X-cite brand), “For the customer, we are the face of the company. It is we who sell their products and look after their after sales.” In India, a major chunk of sales of electronics and durables come from multi-brand outlets rather than exclusive stores (over 50% in some cases). Delighting the dealers therefore, becomes obligatory. When a customer walks into a multi-brand outlet with quite a handful of brands to choose from, it is the dealer who convinces the customer to buy a particular brand. And based on the relationship the dealer shares with the manufacturer, he pushes the brand to the customer. Most big dealers and modern retailers take the onus of installation of goods and providing service to the consumers upon themselves. So, in case a product develops faults, the consumer comes back to the dealer or the retailer, who in turn either rectifies the problem or sends it to the manufacturer. In this entire chain, the customer has no direct contact with the manufacturer; as Ajay Baijal, CEO, Reliance Digital, shares, “We have our own after-sales service program called Res-Q, and we also offer our own warranty in addition to the warranty offered by consumers.” X-Cite too has its own after sales service programme called Get Set Go. Stressing upon the need for great after-sales service for retaining customers, Gokhle of Impact Retail puts, “We cannot afford to lose our consumers especially on account of after-sales service...”

Even when it comes to marketing, dealers and retailers have joined hands with the companies. In order to enhance footfalls, dealers launch their own promotional discounts and schemes, as S. Rajendran, CMO, Acer India, reveals, “Our trade partners also come up with schemes to attract customers on their own and seek our participation in some of those initiatives too. We participated with Croma on their programs like ‘Back to School’, and with Home Solutions for their campaign on August 15, to make the most exciting offers available to consumers. Presently, we are engaged with Staples Future as partners in the ‘Tech Challenge’ which kickstarted on September 18.” Trained company salesmen assist dealers at the points-of-sale. Dealers at their own level also take measures to ensure sales, especially during the festive season when consumer spending is at its crest, as Kushal Negi, a multi-brand dealer in Delhi’s Yusuf Sarai Market puts it, “We send SMS messages, leaflets, pamphlets and even organise lucky draws to engage customers in large numbers.”

Then there are other means to delight the dealers as Prem Kumar, CEO, Fly Mobile, explains, “We train our dealers about the benefits of dual-sim enabled handsets. We are more of a technology enabler for our dealers,” to which V. Ramachandran, Director – Sales & Marketing, LG, adds, “We instill confidence in dealers by way of our services and work together on both monthly and quarterly basis. LG is very proactive when it comes to commission and transaction issues...” For sure, with the breeze of positivity blowing into our faces during festival time, the dealers will definitely give the companies, the reason to celebrate, and the white goods kings know this very well… Are consumers kings? Well, Deputy Kings surely!

For more articles, Click on IIPM Article.

Source : IIPM Editorial, 2010.

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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