In an exclusive interview with ITVoice, Mr. Tejashwar Singh, India Sales Head, Kingston Technology, reveals his strategies for business in India.
ITVoice Media ) – Take us through Kingston growth journey over the last year.
Mr. Tejashwar Singh) – The previous year has been unprecedented in terms of the series of changes brought about by the pandemic and how it has affected the way people work, educate themselves, entertain themselves or even play. This new normal has touched people from all walks of life and the pandemic has forced people to be more virtual in their approach and adopt internet-based services to communicate, interact and perform their official duties from home. Kingston Technology, a world leader in memory products and storage solutions, has compelling range products for this stay-at-home scenario. One needs to add a few simple additions and adjustments in the PC which will help to enhance the workflow, speed as well as productivity. Replacing the hard drive with a solid-state drive (SSD) or upgrading the RAM of the PC are some of the easiest and quickest ways to enhance the PC performance to the next level. These adjustments help in elevating the work from home or even play from home, experience to the next level. These products help in upgrading the system, increase the speed keeping in mind the security of data. These upgrades can be opted by start-ups or anyone who needs a power packed performance and is looking at solutions to manage their productivity with great ease. The Indian market has also been a high-growth market for Kingston Technology, with high demand in technology upgrades. Riding on this trend, Kingston is the most preferred brand in the Indian market and well poised in the market due to extensive SSD and DRAM product portfolio and aggressive pricing.
ITVoice Media ) – What are the strategies you are considering while introducing a product in India?
Mr. Tejashwar Singh) – Most of the strategies devised for India has been done, keeping in view the current market dynamics and the rapidly changing situation in these testing times. While working and educating oneself at home has certainly been on the upswing, another sector that has certainly witnessed a boom has been the gaming space, which has led to gamers constantly looking for super-fast and smooth access to their systems. Hence, we have been focusing on coming up with products which will help in increasing work as well as gaming performance of our discerning consumers. To provide a compelling and versatile experience, we come up with memory as well as storage solutions across mainstream (entry), high performance (mid) and extreme gaming (high) segment. Our strategy is to enhance our product mix of our SSD as well as DRAM product portfolio. We are working towards shifting our focus and incentive & resource investment toward higher capacity, differentiated product lines, and last but not the least, growth in enterprise segment. Our mission as a brand is to come up with products which are best in class and helps people across their journey. We staunchly stand by our credo- ‘Kingston is With You’ and through our compelling products and solutions – we not only are the part of our consumer’s precious memories but also help them through their challenging times and motivate them to move forward in life.
ITVoice Media ) – How much is Kingston India targeting in terms of top line growth in the current fiscal?
Mr. Tejashwar Singh) – Despite challenges related to the ongoing pandemic which has become even more devastating in its second wave, Kingston Technology continues to hold its steady growth for the current fiscal. Innovation has been intrinsic to our growth strategy. Hence, Kingston Technology enjoys 65% YoY growth in the SSD segment and the category grew at over 50%. In subsequent years, we plan to surpass this benchmark. Currently some of our important markets in India in SSD segment are – Karnataka, Telangana, Maharashtra, Greater Delhi NCR, West Bengal but we also would like to extend the reach in the years to come. Last year, we have seen explosive growth and robust demand for the NVMe PCIe SSD in particular. High performance NVMe SSDs is a must today to have a better PC gaming and streaming experience. Kingston’s upcoming entry-level NVMe SSD, the NV1 NVMe PCIe SSD in M.2 form factor. NV1 is designed for speed and dependability at an affordable price for upgrading the system.
In DRAM marketspace, Kingston Technology holds the number 1 position worldwide looking at the third-party module housing. We aim to strive for ‘No.1’ position in every country for each product category to sustain our market leadership in the global memory marketplace.
ITVoice Media ) – How are you aligning your channel roadmap to target new customer segment?
Mr. Tejashwar Singh ) – One of Kingston Technology’s biggest growth drivers has been our channel partners. At Kingston, we believe in adopting a channel friendly approach and growing with our partners. We work towards strengthening the ecosystem for our partners and we assure that we will bring numerous business opportunities for them. With our compelling product and market expertise, we provide a platform for our channel partners to improve and grow in terms of revenue and reach. On an ongoing basis, we do training sessions with our channel partners to educate them about our new products and share useful first-hand information about the industry trends. We consider our channel partners to be an intrinsic part of our growth story and hence, we will consistently work towards imparting knowledge around the SSD segment and various technology. We’ve also expanded tremendously in newer segments such as gaming and enterprise, with the help of our channel partners. Moreover, our driven Field Sales team helps us get a pulse on our consumers. They help us gauge the needs of the consumers in our market, and hence we come up with our products and strategy as per the requirements of the discerning Indian users. All this backed with our compelling customer service network, will help us tread a new growth story in the Indian market and target new customer segment.
ITVoice Media ) – What is your outlook for the overall IT market? What are you channel plans for 2021-22?
Mr. Tejashwar Sing) – The COVID-19 pandemic saw a shift in consumption trends. The successive lockdowns have changed the habits of our consumers. People are now working from home or studying from home, and they are now vying for products which makes their experience better. Consumers have also turned to gaming to overcome challenges of home seclusion, and hence the need for upgraded hardware to support all your needs is imperative. Therefore, all the consumers are queueing up for SSDs like Kingston A2000 NVMe SSD for its unmatched value, and the Kingston KC2500 NVMe SSD for its extremely efficient performance. Even our DRAMs segment is seeing a huge uptake from customers who want to upgrade their PCs for gaming or work from home or e-learning.
To build more category awareness in 2021-2022, we staunchly believe in adopting a channel friendly approach as our channel partners are our opinion shapers. We work towards strengthening the ecosystem for our partners and we assure that we will bring numerous business opportunities for them. We consistently work towards imparting knowledge around SSD segment and various technology around the same. On an ongoing basis we do training sessions with our channel partners in order to educate them about our new products and share useful first-hand information about the industry trends. In the coming years, a part of our focus area will involve channel engagement and empowerment activities, developing our network and rapidly increasing channel strength to establish a strong foothold in various regional markets. In addition to this, we will continue with our 360-degree marketing approach and will be coming up with compelling campaigns which cuts across PR, Social, Digital and Traditional media, in order to touch the lives of our new age users.
ITVoice Media ) – What are the new challenges that you face in relation to the Indian market?
Mr. Tejashwar Singh) – Memory/Storage is a deeper topic that takes focused involvement. One may assume that this category requires minimum efforts, however, this is one area that requires intense messaging to bring clarity and product differentiation. Our marketing campaigns are hence more connected to our consumers with tailored messaging around their interests as well as events and issues they care about.
Memory is an indispensable part of our campaign as we have always strived to enable our consumers to preserve and manage their memories. Therefore, we come up with campaigns on digital, social and traditional media which transcends people across the walks of life. We implemented various communication strategies, such as media collaboration, coverage exposure, word-of-mouth marketing and social events to engage with our target audience. Resonating our vision of “Kingston Is With You”, we aim to come up with products and solutions which will be a part and parcel of every memory of our consumers.
ITVoice Media ) – What kind of strategy have you planned to position Kingston product successfully in the market?
Mr. Tejashwar Singh) – Kingston has always been a frontrunner in enabling people in preserving their precious indelible memories through our most reliable and high-performing memory as well as storage products for business, creative and daily settings. We staunchly believe in the power of memories and its limitless impact in unleashing courage. In such unprecedented times, we want to bring inspiration and strength to people with a promise that ‘Kingston Is With You’ for a lifetime. We hope to stand alongside all our consumers, to celebrate the enthralling moments and take up challenges during the darkest times. We want our consumers to make their memories the foundation for their motivation of moving ahead in life. Hence, with our new brand positioning and our compelling products as well as solutions, we aim to be a part and parcel of the lives of our valued Kingston consumers.
