Spice adopts channel route for PCs

With an aim to target the mass market segment of home and student community — Spice Ltd-formerly known as Modi
Olivetti-is all set to unveil its personal computer range of Spice PCs in
about a week's time. Without comp-romising on the quality front, the company
has priced the products in the range of Rs 13,500 to Rs 26,000.

In order to cater to different customer demands — the
company has planned to launch its PC offering under six different
configurations. "Our aim is to deliver a tailor made product — which is
most suitable for our customers. So we are launching this Spice PC under six
different configu-rations supporting Intel and Microsoft," informed, Arun
Seth, CEO, Spice Ltd.

Though the company has been a supplier of IT products
earlier, this is the first time that it is going to launch its own brand of PCs
through the channel mode. "This is the first time that we have decided to
distribute our products through channels. Our distribution strategy would be to
grow in phases. So right now we are concentrating on North India through our 11
regional distributors that are present in UP, Uttaranchal, Punjab, Harayana,
Delhi, NCR, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan. In the next two-year
span we plan to cover all the four regions of the country," said Seth.

"Initially we would be looking at launching these
products in the metros and then closely follow that with targeting the class B
and C cities of the country," Seth informed.

With the company envisag-ing to weave its channel network
nationally-it is already having a workforce of 15 people within the company,
who are operating in the channels space. "We would be expanding this force
as we move into other regions of the country. We also know that, today a lot of
customers want to touch and feel the product before they go for actually buying
it. We would be encouraging our dealers to put our products in showrooms and
allow a potential customer to actually touch and feel the products," Seth
explained.

Keeping in mind the easy availability of its PCs — the
company has entered into an arrangement with two banks — ICICI and Citibank in
terms of providing financial assistance to its potential customers.

The company has been manufacturing these PCs at its existing
unit based at Baddi, Himachal Pradesh. "We have a capacity of manufacturing
close to 5,000 PCs in a week. This capacity would certainly be increased, as we
move to target all of the country in the coming months," he added.

Spice is also focusing on the branding of the product.
"But the investment on brand building would depend upon region to
region," he added.

Sharing the future plans of the company, Seth said, "We
want to become a national player in the channel space with presence in all the
key markets." On international expansion he said, "Later on we may
take our products to the SAARC nations where we are already present with our
Olivetti products."

Zia Askari & Nishat Paiker

New Delhi, Dec 2