The DQ Week Exclusive : HCL to appoint national distributor for tablet range

Signalling an aggressive market expansion mode to reach out to a wider channel network for its range of tablet PCs, HCL will shortly be appointing a national distributor in the coming financial year.

However, HCL refused to name the national distributor officially.

"We will be appointing a national distributor (ND) in the coming financial quarter. However, our existing mode of distribution will remain in place, and the ND will just be an addition to the layer," said Gautam Advani, EVP, mobility, head, HCL Infosystems.

The primary reason as cited by HCL is opening the tablet market to a wider reach, and harnessing the same.

"The tablet market was a niche, initially limited to selected buyers. However, we are noticing greater traction in the market with tablet prices falling and the very traction needs a revised channel structure in place," Advani added while reasoning for the need for a ND.

Under the present distribution structure, HCL follows the exclusive regional distributorship model for its 4 regions. It has 93 RDs catering to atleast 180 micro distributors which in turn bill the product to the retailers.

"HCL bills directly only to the 93 RDs but with the new structure in place, an additional ND will be added to the slot," he added.