Zenicon aims to be a premium PC brand in Kerala

What big vendors do with their money power is being done by a small PC brand
through relationship from Kerala. Zenicon Infoway, a regional PC brand, has
recently promoted the 'chain of retail stores' concept in Kerala, in
association with its channel partners. Today, the company has more than 60
stores, out of which six are its own retail outlets. "We have 56 channel
partner centers for whom we do complete branding, advertising and other
promotional activities, and they showcase 'Zenicon' computers in a big way
in their retail stores, besides selling other brands," said Roy Jose,
Director, Zenicon Infoway. The company is also promoting premium brands like LG,
Compaq and Acer, among others, in their own six retail stores. The shops are
located in Cochin, Cannanore, Calicut, Trivandrum, Thrissur and Kollam.

"Our aim is to get into the Top 3 club, premium PC brands in Kerala and
we are well on the way to reach it. Currently, Zenicon is in the Top 5 league
selling over 350-400 machines every month," he claimed.

Zenicon is competing with leading MNC PC brands in the market and it is
getting active support from component manufacturers like Samsung and
processor-maker such as Intel. "We have created a strong network of retail
partners and support them in advertisements, roadshows, expositions, service
support, schemes and other initiatives. Our strategies and innovative approach
to business had led us to retain the partners with us for a long time,"
detailed Jose. All Zenicon promoted 'chain of retail stores' have also
service support and the company assures them quick turnaround time of within 48
hours for warranty support.

Recently, the company has announced 'Budget PC' for just Rs 11,000. It is
a VIA-Cyrix 1GHz based machine, with 40-GB HDD, 15-inch monitor and 128MB RAM.
The com-pany offers wide range of PCs starting from Rs 11,000 to Rs 3.5 lakh
(with plasma monitor) to suit the various target segments.

Zenicon is also into mobile solutions and the company has its own brand of
laptops priced Rs 29,000 onwards. It is also partner for Mercury notebooks.

S Gopikrishna

Chennai