Ingram Micro to launch new PC strategy

BANGALORE: Ingram Micro has announced a strategic initiative to offer full range of home and commercial PCs for the Indian market. According to the company, the new Magix and Vesta is aggressively priced and is available for the home and the corporate segments respectively. A formal announcement of the prices will be made by February this year.

As a move towards offering these new product lines off the shelf, Ingram Micro will adopt the traditional channel network by tying up with 150 retail outlets across the country. Formerly, the company followed a ‘bill to order’ model and this new strategy is seen as a major initiative by Ingram to tap 5 percent of the 60 percent assembler market. With the latest PC strategy in place, Ingram plans to distribute its PCs both through channel and bill to order models.

According to the recent study by IDC India, the current PC market is sized at 1.95 million units and as per Ingram, assemblers enjoy a share of 60 percent of this market. NY Prasad, Chief Operating Officer, Ingram Micro India, stated that this new initiative is to offer Indian Consumers a wider range of choice backed by qualitative performance and reliable after sales service. He said, "Today the requirements of the PC users are extremely diverse and demanding. The environment, applications and the expanding consumers in the PC market have thrown up a great challenge and opportunity to the PC makers. Understanding this need, Ingram Micro has decided to tailor its product offerings to foot print as many diverse users as possible".

The Magix Range of home PCs is targeted towards the budget conscious home PC users and as well as demanding power-users by offering the digital multimedia and gaming experience to the most discerning consumers. The range shall cater to the entire spectrum of PC users ­ from the first time PC users to the power-hungry consumers through its wide range which shall incorporate the latest Pentium processors, DVD and CD RW drives, Higher Storage

Capacity of up to 80 GB HDD. "Magix will turn the PC into a home entertainment center. There will be convergence of entertainment in music, movies, wide variety of games, multimedia and Internet features designed for use in family environment with a host of applications, utilities and plug-ins and security features." said Prasad.

According to Ingram, the Vesta Range of Commercial PCs will be priced aggressive targeting the sweet spots in the pricing structure and will be backed by a strong post sales service. The range would offer Intel Celeron, and the Latest Pentium 4 processor based products. This according to the company, is a natural extension of the existing popular Vesta range of IT products such as Motherboards, keyboards and other IT components that Ingram Micro markets currently.

Ingram Micro has also launched its entry into the after-sales services across its branch offices. "We are launching the service network to take care of post sales service requirements. Initially this will be offered in 30 locations across India. By the end of 2003, we are planning to expand this network to more than 50 cities," said Ganesh, Business Manager for Magix and Vesta PCs.

With the new strategy in place offering PCs with features, aggressive price, and post sales support backed by Ingram’s traditional hold on marketing and distribution the Global Distribution giant has clearly signalled its intent to stay in the PC game.