Zenith hits a century with retail stores

One hundred 'Zenith PC World' stores have come up in 98 different cities in the country said Raj Saraf, CMD. Looking at the glut of stores in major metros, only B and C-class cities were picked up for retailing of PCs.

"We have provided opportunities to partners who have been in IT business for some time. We have widened their business scope on the strength of Zenith's brand name and our price advantage," points out Saraf.

Every franchisee is provided with demo equipment and is expected to sell only Zenith PCs. Except for PCs; the stores are otherwise free to sell any brand of IT products. The storeowners are provided with marketing and promotional material. They are also given advertising support.

"We had set a target of 100 stores by March 2002. But realizing the high potential of smaller cities, we worked hard to achieve the number by November itself," said a pensive looking Saraf, who is not sure when the overall market sentiment would take an upturn. According to him, every major vendor is complaining of slack sales and all top distributors are saying that sales have taken a beating.

Given this scenario, Saraf wants Zenith to consolidate its position in the marketplace with its stores and tap the potential in those markets, which still remain unexplored.

(CNS)