Feature-rich PCs drive sales as prices take a back seat

THE Indian PC market is seeing more of value buying rather than purchases based on the cheapest price point as more buyers look for featurerich machines. On an average, the highest selling desktops today are largely in the Rs 22,000-26,000 range and top-selling notebooks in the Rs 30,000-40,000 bracket. “The Indian consumer is very value driven and any buying is a combination of price and value,” says Nitin Chaudhry, head - strategy and business innovation, PSG, HP India. The availability of machines in the price range of Rs 10,000-15,000 has not really made a dent in other price segments and in fact has aided the growth of the market. Typically, the consumer would come into this price point and ultimately a buy a better value machine with a higher price point. As Acer India GM - sales & marketing S Rajendran says, “The larger cities, the modern upmarket consumer driven by global influences and aspirational values is looking at ‘value for money’ rather price. This means that he wants more features packed into the machines and is willing to pay that extra premium to avail these benefits. The India PC market crossed 5 million units in shipments terms in 2006, recording a 25% y-o-y growth. According to Gartner, the PC market is expected to maintain a growth of around 20% in the current year. Princy Bhatnagar, GM, Transaction Brand Lenovo India, says “While prices certainly play a part in the PC market – what with PCs moving up high on the consumer’s priority list – growth does not necessarily come with falling prices.” Chaudhry says that customers enter into the market looking at a price point, but brand value helps in making the final decision. For HP, which has a low-cost PC priced at Rs 17,000, its highest selling machines are those in the range of Rs 21,000-24,000. However, there seems to be certain subtle difference in the top metro markets and B, C and D towns. Rajendran says, “The rural market even today is driven to a large extent on the price factor. This is primarily due to the fact that PC adoption is still small and its still a big ticket purchase decision.” The Indian PC market is still dominated by the major metros, but industry players are expecting future growth from tier-2 and -3 towns. According to Bhatnagar, “In the last one year, a significant amount of PC market growth is coming from the nonmetro market.” The notebooks volumes from non-metro cities in the last four years are close to what metros have touched in the last 15 years.”

Courtesy: EconomicTimes
For more detail on Retail India visit: http://www.retailindia.tv/