Eyeing a big catch in the fast growing laptop segment, HCL is planning to
emerge as a strong player in the space, targeting 20 percent marketshare over a
span of two years.
On the sidelines of the 'HCL Mobile Excitement' campaign in Punjab and
Haryana, the company had declared that the sales in the laptop segment is
growing at a rate of 22 percent against 3.2 percent in the desktop space.
“In the next two years, we are targeting to increase our marketshare in the
laptop segment from about seven percent to 20 percent, and we are voraciously
campaigning to achieve this,” said George Paul, Executive VP, HCL Infosystems.
With 6.4 percent marketshare in the laptop segment presently, the company is
reported to have sold seven million units across the country, out of which 35
percent of the total sales accounted in the laptop segment.
Company officials in HCL Infosystem's eastern division said that the company
has recently grown very aggressive over its channel plans and is eyeing big
channel players to emerge as a leader.
“Considering other brands in the market, RoI is much higher on HCL laptops.
We have considerable presence in the enterprise and SMB sector, although most of
our deployments are based on desktops. To have a steady 20 percent growth on a
YoY basis, we need to seriously work on our corporate clients and focus on
end-user segment, which will lead to an increase in our channel base,” a senior
company official in the East said.
“Although HCL's products are good and price is stable in the market, sales of
HCL laptops and to an extent, desktops are pretty low. Also, I have not found
considerable aggressiveness on HCL's part in the channel space,” said a dealer
based in Kolkata on condition of anonymity.
In the backdrop of Toshiba and Dell taking the lead in the emerging market
scenario, numerous issues related to HCL's service has cropped up recently, with
partners doubting an expansion plan given the resource constraint of the
company.
As after-sales service issues continue to plague the company, and HCL service
centers refusing after-sales services, dealers across the nation feel that HCL
needs to work on its post-sales support in the first place and then focus on
increasing its marketshare and channel presence.