Nagerciol: Service ails

Southern India has many famous tourists
spots, including the hills of Ooty, Kodaikanal or the backwaters of
Kerala. But not many know of a small city called Nagercoil, which is
situated 19 km from Kanyakumari. The city is famous for spectacular
views of the sunrise and sunset along with the temples of Suchindrum,
Kumarakovil, which attract lot of Indian and foreign tourists. The
famous Padmanabhapuram Palace is one of Nagercoil's prominent
landmarks as the city was an ancient capital of Travancore rulers
till 1798. The mural paintings inside the palace hold high artistic
value. Due to its close proximity to Kerala, the local dialect is a
mixture of Tamil and Malayalam.

Being the southern-most city of India,
the main industries driving business here are agriculture, cotton and
rubber goods. There are roughly 200 computer dealers present in
Nagercoil. Home and SOHO segments are the main revenue generators. TK
Manikandan, CEO, ACT Automation and President, Kanyakumari District
Computer Dealers Association (KDCDA) said, “We rely on individual
customers. Most dealers hope to get a government order since it is
the only vertical, apart from SOHO, that we can rely on. But this
does not mean that we do not do substantial business. On an average,
we churn out Rs 9 crore per annum and our growth has been consistent.
I wish vendors concentrate on this area a bit more.”

AV Devaraj of Resolution Systems,
sharing his views said, “All dealers in Nagercoil face
service-related issues. The after sales service of all brands are
extremely dismal and we are, more often than not, left in lurch to
face the ire of customers.” Assessing the current market scenario,
he said, “Most youngsters prefer laptops, since they are aware of
the current trends but desktops also fare pretty well here.”

Acer, Samsung, Compaq are most popular
brands amongst the people in Nagercoil. Even though most dealers
engage in regular business with most vendors, there is not one
service center located here, nor a local distributor to attend to the
needs of dealers. Srinivasan of PS Technologies said, “We have
heard that Acer is shortly going to open up its service center here.
It will go a long way to solve most of our problems.”

Interview

TK Manikandan, CEO, ACT Automation
and President KKCDA

What is the size of the Nagercoil IT
market?

Nagercoil is home to about 200 dealers
out of which 55 are part of our association. We churn out about Rs 9
crore business annually. Since the market is relatively a decade old,
we are now increasing our base and this will help us grow our
business in the future.

What is the current market trend?

Currently laptops are in great demand.
A sizeable population still prefers desktops but we see lot of
youngsters investing in laptops. Computer accessories form a
considerable portion in market.

What are the biggest problems faced
by Nagercoil dealers?

Pathetic service is meted out to us.
None of them are concerned about the lack of service centers. When we
do send our products to service centers in nearby cities, it takes an
eternity to get back the products. In the mean time, we often face
customers' ire. This, in turn, hampers customer retention.

Box

Market name: Nagercoil

Location: Tamil Nadu

Busienss verticals: Education,
SOHO, home

Prominent brands: Acer, Dell,
HP, Compaq

Number of partners: 200+

Market Size: Rs
9 crore annually

Surrounding markets:
Tirunelveli, Trivandrum

Association: Kanyakumari
District Computer Dealers Association

Distributors: None present in
the city as most of them are present in Trivandrum or Madurai.

Business trends: While SOHO and
home segments cater to most of the business in the city, the dealers
are also looking to the government sector for opportunities