Fortune banks on the Galaxy brand, to build its fortune

Asim Raina & Gunjan Gupta

Fortune Marketing Pvt Ltd-a premier reseller in the capital-has just

introduced a melange of storm-tossed gizmos. The looks may be deceptive-till

now; but for these, it surely does not holds true. With the looks being of the

world class quality, the price that they come at, is something close to

dirt-cheap when compared to similar category in the market. Enjoying the first

mover advantage, Fortune is excited to capture a major chunk of market before

the competitors follow.

The product line ranges from digicams to pen drives to Web cameras, various

types of graphic cards and many other high-end networking devices. The devices

are not only unique in terms of appearance for the Indian market, but also much

low priced then the lot already present, under the banners of 'sophisticated'

brand names.

As 'Digital' markets are to be a rage soon in the coming months in the Indian

market and the company has started measuring the water in the market, already.

Say for instance, digital camera-cum-PC camera--use it to attach video mails,

can create special effect images, use it for video conferencing or use it for

creating those scintillating screen savers. One of the model, besides basic

feature can also do eight minutes of motion picture imaging as MPEG format

instead of AVI files and has 8 MBPS of storage space.

Fortune has also stored some low-end cameras, not to miss, digital cameras,

just as a teaser to the market. This camera is in the range as low as Rs 3,500

with all the basic features of the said product. The sophisticated camera's

range is very comprehensive and good. The basic model in this range can do the

usual still or motion coverage. Another model offers the ability to do a VHS

copy in MPEG format. Further if we see, a model is a DVD card (with decoder

being optional/may be built in or may be not) and with a built in TV tuner card,

that can save a TV recording in MPEG 2 format, which is further editable as

well.

Also importing some range in the FireWire category-a high-speed networking

port-starting with modems offering a speed of 400 MBPS. With the present

networking speed of mere 100 MBPS, this networking is bound to catch up soon.

FireWire networking is picking up in Germany and US and Fortune safely cashes to

think that it will not take too long for this rage to catch up in India. It also

offers various hot swappable modules, ranging from CD drives to storage devices.

As taking the market response towards the range, the DQW News Bureau spoke to

a couple of resellers who have taken the initial dealerships for Galaxy.

Starting with Deepak, Director, CD Shoppe, a retail showroom in Nehru Place. He

said, "It definitely seems to be a promising product range, but will take

some time to make a place for itself. All the customers who have bought it till

now, have accepted it fully and placed repeat orders as well. But I still feel

that a brand promotion activity would help to take this places."

Saurabh Nagpal, Director, Multilink Computers, commented, "It is surely

a fantastic product, but customers will take some time to understand the

technicalities of it, as it is designed a little unusually from its brothers in

the market. Even though an end-user looks forward to good looks blended with

features, reliability and quality, but wishes it to be topped with a brand name,

this is not holding true with Galaxy. It is doing pretty well, but I somehow

feel that a good brand building exercise would do wonders for this particular

range."

Ankur Bansal, Director, Pulse Systems, played safe by commenting, "We

are basically selling their graphic cards in different categories. As Pulse

basically has the profile of a box-pusher, I really would not like to comment

anything about the quality. This is because we really have not used it as such,

but all the cards that we have sold till date, none of them have come back to us

with a complaint. So we take this by default that it is a good product. Also, I

think if not selling it entirely on their name, if they give it a backing of a

good popular brand name, then it will work wonders for them."

When being asked about the promotional plans, Akhilesh Gupta, Marketing

Manager, Fortune, said, "Today's consumer is so well educated that I do not

need to do any sort of product awareness programs. I just have to tell them that

these products are available with me, and he will surely buy. I just have to

keep my prices competitive. Now, as the market dynamics turn very tumultuous, it

is competitive pricing that is ruling the mass, and we cannot be far behind to

this approach."

Taking the conventional counter policy as the mantra, Gupta said that

showroom concepts are not feasible in Nehru Place market. However, firming its

focus on the future, it stated--to keep on getting new products; allow essential

peripherals to remain on the portfolio; import high-end hard drives and

motherboards; and put an end to selling conventional motherboards.

Looking at reasons that forced Fortune to venture into new arenas, Manoj

Gupta, Director, Fortune, opined, "Last six months saw no profit for

peripherals. High-end products sounded greener, obviously as they have high

profit margin. But focus is always to make money, and obviously it stands true

and important simultaneously. We are not really a 'turnover-conscious' company

or how much is the growth percentage every year. But we aim to be very realistic

in terms of quality revenue, instead of quantity transactions. Over a period, we

would surely want to continue with those products that will be a rage and thus

make good margin. We want to cater only to those product ranges that yield a

better margin, with quality assurance."

Fortune has also opened up an outlet in Bangalore to cater to the corporate

sector needs by providing high-end products. In Northern region, it has a

C&F agent in Chandigarh.