Action moves to interiors

Ask any vendor or any distributor where the action is happening, the
unanimous answer will be the B and C class towns. Till about two-three years
back, all the action as far as IT buying is concerned, was concentra-ted in and
around the major metros.

Not surprisingly, as a result, vendors as well as the distributors had not
even bothered to venture out of these top 8-10 metro cities. But now, the whole
scenario has changed and changed beyond recognition. So much so that everybody
talks only about the smaller towns now.

The most important factor which, brought about this change in mindset was the
fact that sales in metros had stopped growing or in some cases the growth rate
had gone down drastically. This meant that new markets had to be explored to
keep up the growth.

Secondly, the awareness of IT in the B and C class towns was growing quite
rapidly and at the same time their buying power was also going up phenomenally,
something which the vendors caught on quickly.

Both the above factors played a big role in convincing the vendors that they
need to look at these markets closely. And then they started focussing very
heavily on these towns. Today, more than the metros, vendors are putting their
effort on cities like Ahmedabad, Baroda, Chandigarh, Cochin, Coimbatore, Indore,
Jaipur, Lucknow, Nagpur, Pune etc.

In fact, it won't be an exaggeration to say that these and some more towns
have become the 'de-facto el dorado' for all the vendors as well as the
distis. And they are sparing no effort or expense in making their presence felt
in these cities. There has been a big increase in the number of roadshows,
seminars, events, exhibitions etc being held by the vendors in the B and C class
cities.

We at The DQ Week recognized the importance of these cities quite early. This
resulted in a significant increase in our focus and direction. We followed a two
pronged strategy. Firstly, we made sure that our copies reach the entire
universe of channel partners doing business in these cities. Then we went about
giving proper coverage to them.

In the second phase, we started furthering the cause of these smaller cities
by holding very focussed channel meets there. Called IT Panchayat, these meets
have already been held at 21 cities in the last 15 months all over the country.
More cities are to follow. In addition, we also started recognizing the efforts
put in by these partners in furthering the cause of IT. So, four years back we
started the DQ Week awards for the best channel partners in these cities. And
today, we cover more than 60 cities besides the four metros. This is just our
way to recognize their excellence.