WeP looks at exports market in a big way

NEW DELHI: WeP, one of the leaders in the business of hardware manufacturing in the country, is now looking at the overseas market in a big way. The initiative to export dot matrix printers (DMP) which was undertaken last year brought in revenues to the tune of Rs 14 crore which is comparatively quite small in comparison to its total revenue of Rs 250 crore.

Currently WeP has mostly adopted the OEM route in most countries except some countries in the ASEAN region where it is selling its DMPs as a branded product through its partners. WeP's foray into the exports market has been a strategic decision since the company was hived off from Wipro Ltd in 2000 as a separate company.

Said Dependra Mathur, Chief Marketing Officer at WeP, "WeP went by the philosophy that if it manufactured goods which were export quality, it will ensure its dominance in the domestic market.

" In October 2001, WeP acquired the EDM unit of Godrej in Hyderabad, which was focussed on the exports market. This acquisition gave WeP access to Godrej's overseas customer base as the unit was majorly engaged in doing contact manufacturing for customers’ abroad.

Besides, DMPs, WeP has also started exporting UPS to countries in Western Europe, ASEAN, China and in the SAARC region. WeP started UPS manufacturing at Hyderabad about six month’s back. The site has been rolling out 15,000 units of line interactive UPS per month.

WeP has held a leading position in the DMP space in the country over the last 16 years. India is a major consumer of DMP with its share at 7.5 percent of the world's market of four million units per year. Besides DMPs, the company also offers line matrix printers and laser printer.

While the company has invested extensively in its line matrix and DMP technology, it has been working in collaboration with Kyocera and Brother in Japan for its range of laser printers. The company expects to start manufacturing laser printers also in the country once its sales reaches a critical mass of 25,000 units.

WeP's USP for its laser printers has been to offer M2C which is mono 2 color, "a facility which is not offered by another other vendor" said Mathur.

"So after one or two years when customers might want to have a color laser printer we offer a cheap upgrade which is not the case with other vendors," he added. The entry-level cost of a personal laser printer stands at Rs 11,900.

Meanwhile, WeP has been firming up its marketing strategy based on the philosophy of length (expanding the range of products on offer) into breadth (number of channels/reach) into depth (increase the sales of resellers). The company has a total base of over 13,000 partners in over 373 cities.

This fiscal the company expects its exports to touch Rs 20 crore but expects exports revenue to touch 20 percent of its total revenue within a few years time.

(CNS)