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Belkin Targets 60 percent Growth in 2012

In an already crowded IT peripherals segment, relatively new entrant Belkin plans to repeat its 2011 success. However, the company has to deal with a slowdown in the economy, which might result in reduced spending and increased competition. By Manjari Juneja

Belkin India has had an interesting journey of sorts. Known for its routers targeting home and SOHO sort of companies, the company is now betting on expanding its portfolio into the whole gamut of IT peripherals- from mouse to tablet cases.

As a part of this strategy, the company has ambitious growth plans and considers the Indian market to be one of its most strategic, with a stated desire to be a market leader in the tech and digital lifestyle space. It announced its plans for 2012-13 with an aggressive strategy to reinforce its strength and spread across product categories. The company registered a growth of 62% in 2011 over 2010 and announced growth target of 60% in 2012. It recorded revenue of Rs 150 crore in the year 2011 as compared to Rs 95 crore in 2010 in the Indian sub-continent. It aims to target sales of Rs 250 crore in the year starting from October 2011 to September 2012.

Retuning strategy

“India represents one of the most important and strategic market for Belkin and has been very good. We entered India in 2009 with zero revenue and were an unknown entity. Flash forward now and in our September 2011 financial year we clocked Rs 150 crores of revenue” Mohit Anand Mng. Director, Belkin India subcontinent

Since its entry in India in early 2009, Belkin has worked towards becoming a tech and digital lifestyle brand. It has come a long way to become the market leader across its product lines and also having expanded its footprint beyond India to other SAARC countries. Also, for this, the company appointed Mohit Anand, who was the brains behind retailing Microsoft's Xbox in India.

In a crowded marketplace, where established MNCs like Logitech and Indian companies like iBall are vying for a share of the Indian consumers' wallet, Belkin sees opportunities to create a niche too. According to reports, by 2025, 550 million Indians would be consuming technology in one way or the other. Couple that with the demographic dividend and the youth population is projected to peak at 484.86 million in 2030, according to Census data.

Mohit Anand, Managing Director, Belkin India subcontinent, said, “India represents one of the most important and strategic market for Belkin and has been very good. We entered India in 2009 with zero revenue and were an unknown entity. Flash forward now and in our September 2011 financial year we clocked Rs 150 crores of revenue. Peripherals market is growing in India. Just because of the fact that Indian IT market is beginning to really ramp and scale up with prominent use of technology in our daily lives. All these point to a very comfortable and robust scenario. Given that these host devices are growing rapidly, it presents immense opportunities for us as well to grow.”

He added, “Today we have products selling in more than 300 cities in India. We have circles in Bangladesh, Srilanka, Nepal, Pakistan and Maldives. Our products are available across through 20 thousand partners. It has been a gratifying journey for us so far, but I think there is still a long way to go. By September 2015, we want to be a Rs 1000 crore organization.”

To accomplish the growth targets and to widen the product portfolio, the company is focusing on four key elements as a part of its growth strategy:- product, brand awareness, renewed channel focus and right segmentation of the products.

As a part of its product growth strategy, it aims to bring products to the market that enhance and enrich consumer lives. It recently announced the launch of its wired and wireless keyboards and mouse range. With the launch of these products, Belkin India aims at completing its wide portfolio of products in the IT peripheral category. It has appointed Supertron Electronics as its national distributor for Keyboards and mouse range. The association with Supertron Electronics will enable Belkin to deepen its foothold in Indian market in the Keyboard and Mice range, with the resilient and widespread networks of the two companies.

Speaking about the move, Anand said, “We are sure that we will be able to develop a stronger foothold in the Indian market in the keyboard and mice range, with the expertise and robust network of Supertron Electronics.” Supertron Electronics is the official distributor of a wide variety of IT products including servers, desktops, laptops, netbooks, PC components, peripherals, memory modules, storage products, networking products and consumer electronic products of brand-enhancing international vendors. With this move, the company can tap on untapped potential in the Indian market and opportunities. Beyond that, it has Neoteric, Iris, Creative and Brightpoint as its national distributor for other range of products.

As a part of brand awareness and demand generation strategy, it aims to invest in the market and create more awareness about their products among consumers. To support the product marketing and brand building activities in India, the company has earmarked a marketing and advertisement investment of Rs 12 crore for the year 2012.

Further it aims not only going to more cities but also going deeper with its existing channel partners and empowering them with the right skill sets and right training for the products, as a part of its channel strategy. It has an extensive hybrid channel model of traditional IT and modern retail across multiple formats & consumer electronic stores across the subcontinent. Anand informed that the company plans to strengthen its business through an aggressive sales channel expansion in the tier II & tier III market for its business and expansion.

Belkin is going on 21 cities yatra in cities like Patna, Guwahati, Madurai, Coimbatore, Vijaywada etc. to propagate products and to launch their mice & keyboard range. Belkin is penetrating in these cities as it is seeing more growth coming from the smaller cities.

The company has also announced 'Belkin Utsav' program for its channel partners. The program began on October 1st 2011 and ends on December 31st 2011. The program will empower channel partners to gift loved ones using Sodexo Gift Passes. Under the promotion, every channel partner is rewarded for sales made during the period of the promotion. Channel partners can take home Sodexo Gift Passes up till Rs 42,000 on business of up to Rs 10 lakhs.

For a business of up to Rs 7, 50,000 the channel partners are entitled Sodexo Passes worth Rs 30,000. Only purchases made through authorized volume Belkin partners during the program period will be considered. The program is valid for structured cabling business also.

Anand said, “Our channel programs are an attempt to motivate our channel partners and to thank them for their relentless support in making Belkin a preferred brand. Channel partners form the backbone of our business and we aim at their augmentation.”

Playing on value

As a part of segmentation strategy, Belkin aims to ensure its presence at the right time, at the right place. It aims to provide right segmentation of channel for the right set of products, where consumer come and buy. In order to provide better after sales service, the company has launched a 24x7 technical support in Hindi. Belkin customers can dial on the nationwide toll free number 1800 419 5546 in case of any technical support required. Also, it has set up more than 55 service centres in the country where any Belkin products can be replaced across the table. “We also have nationwide doorstep courier pick-up & drop service across India,” added Anand.

One of the things Belkin confronts in this space is intense competition from the likes of Logitech, Targus, iBall and others. According to industry watchers, Belkin has its work cut out since other Indian players are fleet footed and have more understanding of the domestic market and customer pain points. “It will take a while for Belkin to make its presence felt in this space where even the likes of Cisco have had trouble in cracking the Indian consumer code,” said a competitor who did not wish to be named.

Speaking about the competition, Anand said, “Competition is good for us. It helps us keep us on our toes. You get innovations, better prices, better products, better customers. We focus on what we need to do rather than what our competitors are doing. Our focus is on our strategic products.”

Brave words, but in the backdrop of slower consumer spends projected next year due to a slowdown in the economy, Belkin will have to push that extra bit to gain market share in the intensely competitive IT peripherals segment.

manjari.juneja@expressindia.com