The smart consumer is our target market

After a long hiatus from the Indian market, BenQ is back. And this time, the
Taiwan-based company has set its sights high and entered the highly-competitive
notebook space. While the company has more or less shut shop for its mobile
handsets business in India, BenQ has now launched Joybook Lite, its notebook
range. Adrian Chang, President-Asia Pacific, BenQ, talks about the opportunity
for his company in India

After a quiet entry and equally quiet exit, why is BenQ making a re-entry
into the Indian market?

India is a high growth potential market as we have seen in the past decade,
wherein the Indian economy has been consistently growing at an exponential rate
across all sectors. We have also seen that among all the other sectors, BPO/ITeS
and telecom have grown rapidly in the past decade. The market for mobile
handsets and telephony service providers have turned around not just the
industry but also the social fabric of the society.

In the past we have also seen the transition from black and white TVs to
color TV at a very rapid pace. And now the transition towards LCD TV is taking
place. All of this would not have been possible without government support on
policies and infrastructure given to the industry in order to encourage a rapid
pace of development in India. The laptop business is on the verge of explosive
growth in the Indian market.

We are also strengthening our Indian operations and have undertaken several
key developments like opening up a new office at Gurgaon and deploying manpower
in key markets across India. We want to make a statement that the required
infrastructure is in place to launch BenQ's new generation products here.

After the not-so-memorable debut with mobile handsets, BenQ is now
entering the highly competitive notebook market in India. What will be your
strategy for this market. How will you face competition from established
vendors?

The laptop market is a fast growing market in India. And over a period of
time, it is becoming increasingly difficult for the telecom operators to get
profit from voice communication. They eventually have to enhance their data
communication service,which in turn provides us with an opportunity based on our
experience of mobile communication products. BenQ, as a company, lays strong
emphasis on design and technology of the products. We have retail policy and
product lines in accordance to the current market requirements. Our strategy
would be to create differentiating products that target high-end consumers. Our
two decades of R&D expertise, combined with extensive global manufacturing
capabilities, has helped us to create products which are best in class and in
line with the current market requirement.

Adrian Chang President-Asia Pacific, BenQ

There have been other low cost computing options already available in the
Indian market. How will your product be different from them. Who is your target
audience?

Our target audience is the smart consumer who has deeper knowledge of
computing products, and appreciates better outlook design and technology. The
netbook is a second laptop for business class travelers and a primary device for
people who are always on the move but still want to surf the Internet and need a
computing device for their data requirements. Today's customers associate
themselves with products that are uncomplicated, easy to use, stylish and
trendy, providing all features for their computing requirements. Joybook Lite
will be an ideal product for such consumers.

You have launched Joybook Lite recently. What will be your strategy for
this segment?

'Lite' doesn't only mean hardware. It also includes the lighter software
that has 'just enough' functions included to fulfill future Internet computing
demands with more options for users. Till date we have been introducing products
like full high definition 21.5 LCD monitor, which was well accepted in the
market. Our notebook and netbook range of products, too, are highly stylized to
tap the segment looking out for the latest designer products, which is our
forte. Our current set of products have also been well accepted in the channel
fraternity who have helped us to distribute it effectively pan India. Hence, we
can say that we have the right product at the right time with a supportive
channel base to sell it across India.

What are your plans for your channel partners?

We strongly believe in having a consistent policy for our channel partners
about maintaining channel hygiene, policy and approach. We are continuously
enlisting new partners across India, along with giving the same importance to
consolidate the business with our older partners as well.

Two important aspects are strongly ingrained in the BenQ ecosystem for
channel partners­-maintaining the channel inventory across product categories to
the optimum level and ensuring profitability of our partners. In today's
turbulent scenario, we are taking special care to support our channel partners
in their business requirements for BenQ range of products. At BenQ, the channel
is a key aspect of overall marketing strategy and we accord it a strategic role
in the scheme of things. We view India as an important strategic country for
BenQ, and like China, a worldwide production engine. We hope that we can
leverage India's high quality manpower for future business growth or even become
a talent pool for BenQ worldwide.

Source: Dataquest