Asus to grow retail presence in India gaming market

Taiwanese tech major Asus will ramp up its retail presence in the country by setting up more stores dedicated to its Republic of Gamers (ROG) line of gaming laptops.

The company has three such stores in Bengaluru, Kolkata and Bhubaneswar and plans to expand the number to 10 in 2018.

“We have seen tremendous success with these dedicated stores and will set up seven more stores in cities including metros, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad,” Asus National Business Development Manager (PC and Gaming) Arnold Su told PTI.

He, however, declined to comment on the investment details.

Arnold said the company will also expand its presence across multi-brand outlets from current 100 to 300 stores in the coming year.

“Gaming is a booming category in India and we are a large player in the category. The segment is expected to double in size to 80,000 units this year compared to 40,000 units in 2016,” he said.

The company — under ROG — has about 10-11 models priced at about Rs 70,000 and goes up to Rs 4 lakh. According to GfK, the gaming notebook category has seen 51 per cent growth in first six months of the 2017-18 fiscal.

The gaming industry in India has grown rapidly over the last decade, predominantly on the back of increasing smartphone and Internet penetration coupled with rising income levels in the country.

According to a CII report, India’s gaming industry was valued at USD 543.08 million in 2016 and is projected to cross USD 800 million by 2022.

Players like HP and Dell have also ramped up efforts to tap into the growing segment.