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Communication is the
buzzword today. Few years ago, consumers were only interested in
laptops or desktops and very few would venture in buying accessories.
Today, though laptop accessories market is considered fragmented, the
earning potential in this space is huge. According to research, the
accessories market is estimated to be over $15 million worldwide.
Many leading players are offering competitive pricing in order to
boost the additional revenue for their partners. According to IDC
India's quarterly PC sales report, 10.4 lakh laptops were sold in
India in Q4, 2010. The overall PC market in India was 33 percent last
year which was directly proportional for accessories. There is a
growing demand for laptops and almost half of the leading PC players
have their presence in the market in various products ranging from
mouse pads, batteries, cooling products, USB to memory cards and even
bags.
Market overview
India is the most exciting
market to be, at this moment. According to a recent study, India's
domestic video, audio and gaming device market is expected to grow to
a value of $21.1 bn by 2015. Factors like the growing middle class,
increasing disposable income, increasing PC penetration, need to be
connected with loved ones, increased Wi-Fi penetration, consumption
of digital music and social networking have made India one of the
fastest growing markets.
India, Brazil, Russia and
China are slowly emerging as key growth markets. Enterprises and SMB
segment are promoting notebooks/laptops due to the convenience
factor. The aggressive pricing is creating a new set of aspirants
buying notebooks. Availability of a large variety of accessories and
value products at competitive prices, the brands are able to meet the
expectations of buyers looking at value products, and this is
accelerating the growth of accessories.
Influx of technology
Laptop accessories
industry is very dynamic where customer behavior or expectations
shape technology innovation and product design. With products going
'wireless', consumers now have a mobile lifestyle and expect
freedom from cables, increased convenience and seamless experience.
The shift from analog to digital and from modem to broadband access
is changing the face of digital audio entertainment. Personal
entertainment experience is a priority to most of the consumers.
Subrotah Biswas Country
Manager, Logitech said, “Factors like social media, increasing
broadband penetration, digital audio and video content is changing
the way technology is consumed.” With competition driving the
prices down, making accessories more affordable will fuel the demand.
Logitech offers corded and wireless mice which along with keyboards
come in combo and separate entities. The company also has performance
wireless mouse M950, which features Logitech's Darkfield Laser
Tracking technology (the only mouse that works even on glass surface)
is one of its kind, notebook speakers, headsets, HD webcams, cooling
pads and lap desks are some of the other offerings.
offers
a whole line of products from Wi-key touch to high speed card
reader. The company's Turbo 7 Port Hub and charger provides seven
ports offering plug and play connectivity to any USB 2.0 device and
also acts as a USB charger to devices of all kinds including most
mobile phones without the need of a computer. Rajiv Bapna, director,
Amkette said, “We have a number of products which enhances the
laptop/notebook computing experience like Flash Link. The high speed
card reader USB 2.0-this card reader has a hi-speed data transfer
rate and does not require any external power.”
Bengaluru-based Targus
offers privacy screens, USB hubs, multimedia headsets and travel
power adapters and ergonomic cooling products. Sukumaran Pallikara,
country manager, Targus said, “Targus makes anything and everything
that you can think of around laptops and are broadly classified into
carrying solutions and digital accessories. Customers can look for
some feature-rich backpacks, trendy sleeves, and chill mats for
gamers.” The company is launching a slew of iPad/tablet accessories
and cases in the coming months.
No longer people will work
in fixed office spaces. With 3G coming in, people have the freedom to
work from anywhere. This has also contributed to the growing demand
of laptops and simultaneously accessories, since it is directly
proportional. Consumers are increasingly using their laptops in
unstructured spaces. A sleek and energy-efficient cooling pad becomes
very critical in such scenario to avoid overheating, slow device
performance and even furniture damage. Logitech N700 is a cooling pad
plus a laptop speaker bundled into one. The demand for laptop
accessories has undergone a complete makeshift and companies are
closely observing the changing consumer behavior and consumer
preferences while operating their laptops. Performance, portability
and ergonomically enhanced designs are some of the key features that
are being looked upon. Signet Computers currently offers Sennheiser
Headsets, batteries for all the laptop brands, memory upgrades,
adapters, external hard drives and other accessories.
Latest trends
Sandisk has changed its
packaging and made the brand more robust. The company has increased
its focus by roping in LFR's and resellers. Manisha Sood, country
manager-India & Saarc, Sandisk said, “Memory cards are being
sold with almost every handset manufacturer in the world. This only
increases our footprint and this year we want to expand to every nook
and corner of the city.” There are quite interesting products in
the market like trendy cased laptop bags to colored mouse which is
actually in shape of a mouse. Belkin has introduced laptop cooling
pads to keep the airflow going. Targus offers laptop sleeves which
can be customized according to requirements. Another interesting
accessory is the laptop pouch bag which is straddled on to the back
of laptop screen. One can use this pouch to carry papers, mobile
phones, pens etc. Along with pouch, one can consider 'lapdesk' as
the hottest accessory. Logitech recently announced its new wireless
mouse and keyboard in India This allows the user to adjust laptop to
his surroundings and work without the laptop getting heated or
slipping away. Logitech's comfort range of lapdesks come with a
four layer heat-shielding designs and a 12 degree adjustable
positions. One of the important factors is the availability of high
storage space (like 320 GB and 500GB along with 3GB DDR3 becoming
standard across all models) and great computing power. Besides this,
the price of accessories has also fallen by 15-20 percent in the
last few months making them more affordable.
Laptop batteries are one
of the key accessories driving its growth since they have a life of
around two years. The buyers have the flexibility to choose either
compatible or original, as per their budget, though both come with
similar life span. Belkin has also introduced new range of iPad
accessories like iPad stands, cases, etc. Jabra offers handsets which
plug into the USB ports of laptop to serve as an audio endpoint.
Their latest product which is a speaker phone was launched recently.
This is designed to connect to a laptop computer. Jabra SPEAK 410
includes simple plug-and-play functionality for conferencing and
collaboration.
Challenges
Channels form an important
link in the Indian IT market. With the emergence of tablet PC's,
laptop and laptop accessories, market is slowly feeling the heat. IT
users are slowly shifting their interest to these devices. Channel
partners will have to invest in additional promotion for accessories.
With the scenario changing, the market will soon see a whole new set
of accessories for new age devices. However, laptops cannot be
replaced entirely by tablets, purely because of functionality issues.
Tablets on the other hand are perfect for media consumption. High
import duties is another challenge which will keep the prices
relatively higher than international market. Diverse market with
diverse customer preferences makes it a big challenge to market the
products in a way that will connect well with the customers. Indian
consumers are price-conscious unlike their counterparts in West.
Cheap accessories from China are highly attractive and low cost. Most
of the channel partners rue that consumers would rather buy something
cheap than invest additional money in accessories. One of the biggest
challenges is to understand a consumer's mindset. A leading partner
in Bengaluru said, “A good laptop costs anywhere from Rs 25,000 —
45,000. Though consumers are ready to buy at this cost, but they
would not pick up accessories even worth Rs 3,000.The mindset of the
buyer has to change.”
Secondly, creating
awareness on products is an expensive affair but organized retailing
is gaining momentum. With LFR's opening in tier-2 cities, consumers
are slowly being more brand conscious. In India computers are still
considered as an aspirational product and the government's focus on
other issues has to be justified.
Form factor
As devices are shrinking
into smaller sizes making it portable, travel-friendly and light,
accessories are also falling under the same category. Companies are
competing against each other to bring products which are more and
more user-friendly. Targus is the first brand to launch the ultra
mini wireless mouse with nano dongle with 15 months battery life.
Consumers also want style combined with functionality. The look and
form of the device is equally important along with its utility.
Diskette offers special mice in its 'colors-on-the-go' range,
targeted at women which comes in pink and orange colors. Similarly,
the company also has gaming mice with high DPI along with the
'Element' which is a luxury mouse and comes in colors like gold and
silver. Though some of the accessories are model-specific; like
batteries and adapters, majority of the accessories are compatible
across different brands and mostly plug and play. Headsets for
example come in a variety of plug-in options like-mini jack plug,
¼
inch plug, 2.5 MM plug, multi-pronged and USB to suit a variety of
devices.
Forecast
With the market maturing,
consumers have started looking for great value than price. More and
more users are becoming mobile today and are switching to laptops
instead of desktops. The increasing traveling lifestyle and hectic
work environments of the work force will lead to higher usage of
portable devices specially laptops. This means more opportunities for
laptop peripherals and accessories. Laptops are increasingly being
used in corporate environments and are the preferred option when
compared to desktops across industries and sectors. Therefore, there
is a huge untapped potential in India in the years to come.
Accessories need to be marketed and if done the right way, partners
can make margins from 10- 20 percent. By customizing the products, an
instant connection can be established between the brand and market.
With the awareness amongst consumers increasing, accessories can be a
hot space if marketed well.