Change is the need of the hour

The channel community as a whole has remained in its cocoon for far too long
now. It's high time that they came out of their shell and take a look at the
bright new world with a fresh vision. And they will certainly realize that the
world has changed beyond recognition, while they had kept their blinkers on.

The fresh vision is required on the part of the channel community for several
reasons. Perhaps the most important reason would be the way they conduct their
business, which is totally outdated in today's context.

An overwhelming majority of them are still stuck on the traditional way of
doing business-trading. And what kind of margins do they make by doing that?
Rs 50 if they are lucky. Otherwise, it is always a couple of rupees.

But if the kind of margin they are able to make is negligible, why do they
still stick to it? Nobody has an answer-publicly. Privately, a lot of them
admit that they won't mind getting out of this business provided they get a
good alternative.

This business on such ridiculously low margins is happening mainly because of
the rampant undercutting, which channels partners indulge in. And they do that
because there are far too many players in the market chasing the same set of
customers. Here, vendors have to take the major part of the blame, as they are
the ones who tend to indulge an ever-increasing number of partners without
bothering about the consequences.

So if the community is making almost nothing from trading, why don't they
try and go up the value chain. That would involve a total reorientation, as that
would mean offering total solutions rather than just boxes, which is the norm
currently. And to do that, they will have retrained themselves and also their
employees. Also, they would have to curb the tendency to sell at any cost.
Rather, their mantra should be focus on returns then on selling.

On our part, The DQ Week with its three editions has tried to fulfill the
need for reliable, topical and regional information of market developments in
the channels community. Over the last eight years, we have tried to provide news
and information of direct business relevance to the entire community.

However, in the majority of places, we have seen that the channel community
does not speak in one voice. Even if an association exists, it is almost
irrelevant. So, there is hardly any platform where the issues of the community
can be taken up and resolved. It is extremely important that the channel
community initiate a dialogue amongst themselves and see what are the major
areas of concern and issues which need to be taken up with the vendors or
distributors or even various state government and local authorities.