Supertron Electronics Pvt Ltd. is one of the fastest growing IT distributors in India which has registered more INR 1100 crores business and has been increasing its reach in tier II and tier III cities.
IT Voice had the pleasure of having spending some time with Mr. M.L. Bhandari, Branch Head, Jaipur.
Q: What are the different vendors that you are representing in India? Any other new tie up in recent times?
Mr. Bhandari: We started our journey with Seagate in India. Thereafter we became national distributor for Dell for desktop, servers and for notebooks in Rajasthan. We distribute ACER Notebooks, TFTs nationally. Also, we have national distributorship for Toshiba Notebooks. We tied up with IBM to sell their servers in up country market. We distribute Micromax data cards and tablets in West and South.
Recently we have tried up with Transcend for pen-drives, hard –drives, memory cards, etc. Looking at the growth in tablet market, we have tied with Sunstrike, Go Tech. Apart from this, we have tie ups with LG, Buffalo, Digilite, Belkin, Gateway.
Q: Can you please tell us about the service centers of Supertron?
Mr. Bhandari: At large Enterprise level, Supertron provides services for annual maintenance of computer systems and networks. Supertron has a strong network of 27 service locations across the country including the Master Service Centre at Kolkata and Regional Service Centres (RSCs) at Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore. Recently we have tied up with Transcend where we offer warranty from our end also. At Consumer level, vendors have their own service centers. Customers facing problem with the product directly contact the vendors. In some cases though if customer requires our support, then the consumer can visit any of our service centers.
Q: Please elaborate on the in-house brands of Supertron?
Mr. Bhandari: Supertron in 2003 started with its own brand in India- Supercomp and Solitaire. Both provide computer components, peripherals and security & surveillance, the former is for mid-level market and latter is targeted at premium customers. Supercomp addresses the need of price conscious users whereas Solitaire is more for premium users. The products are manufactured in China and then sold under our brand name.
Q: On a personal level, what is your take on the Freebies like tablets, laptops offered by Govt; how will they impact the channel market?
Mr. Bhandari: The way things are going in market it will not have a positive effect. There is a lot of confusion over this. People have got the money, buying some tablet and again reselling in market. This is changing the market dynamics. Also, I feel local products will flourish and branded products will be effected.
Q: What is your view on India as a brand for hardware market?
Mr. Bhandari: Companies like Acer, Dell, Google have opened up their offices in India. This itself shows the growth of IT. Moreover indigenous brands like Micromax, our in house brands are doing well in the market. So yes India has a bright future. If we talk about technology advancement, initially we had desktops, which were taken over by laptops which in turn are slowly taken over by tablets. But in India one will find market for every product. One just has to be keep his options open.
Q: What are the key differentiators from other companies?
Mr. Bhandari: We have increased our focus in up-country market. This helps in reaching a larger sector of India. This is not provided by many distributors in India. If I give an eg, IBM tied up with us to distribute their servers in tier II cities. This is where we are different from others. Also, we provide a healthy working environment to our partners which have gained us exclusive national distributorship. This claim is backed by the fact that our 1st vendor Seagate is still working with us.
Q: How has been the journey of Supertron in Rajasthan?
Mr. Bhandari: After Kolkata, Jaipur was the second office of Supertron. The market in Jaipur has matured a lot as compared to earlier days. We have been in Rajasthan for 18 years now. We started with sub-distribution for Seagate. Slowly we grew our presence in India. We have a branch in Jodhpur also. Earlier we had huge market for assembled computers but now the market for branded products has increased.
Q: Any plans to enter telecom market?
Mr. Bhandari: Earlier we entered telecom market, but it didn’t work out for us. Moreover we were engaged with our current business i.e. IT hardware, owing to which full-fledged attention to telecom. I don’t think in near future also we will enter telecom business, as the market is already over flowing with distributors.
