We now have a dedicated team to work on online promotions – Mr. Vipul Modi, Director – Abacus Peripherals

in an exclusive interview with ITVoice, Mr. Vipul Modi, Director at Abacus Peripherals, reveals his strategies forbusiness in India.

Vikas Gupta :-  Tell us about key focus areas of abacus peripherals?

Mr. Vipul Modi :-  We have been in the industry for over 18 years and our success is backed by our YOY growth of over 15% CAGR this shows we have been successful in manufacturing and distribution within the IT industry. Now we are focusing on expanding breadth of our branches. We want to reach a target of 8000 partners across India and work with them consistently. We believe that will be growth in true sense and reliance on major city and big partners will decrease.

Vikas Gupta :-  Brief us about the quality policy for your business?

Mr. Vipul Modi :-  ZION as a brand was established in the year 1997. Since then we have been making quality products and supplying to extremely quality sensitive buyers like HP and Sony. The fact that ZION has been consistently the market leader across India stands testament to our quality policy. No other brand has the confidence to offer a silver coin with every faulty product replacement. Also when you talk about our distribution we are fully equipped to take all end to end responsibility for all products we distribute.

Vikas Gupta :-  What are the marketing activities that were undertaken to build the brand?

Mr. Vipul Modi :-  We have 6 big brands with us along with our own brand Zion. Marketing activities always vary as per the positioning and needs of the brands.

Our Marketing activities are based on 4 verticals – Online, Offline, Channel and consumer. In 2015, we consciously activated all these verticals.

We now have a dedicated team to work on online promotions – Social media, Online reputation management and SEO. We have also done offline activations to connect with both our channel as well as consumers through trade exhibitions, channel meets, and college meets as well as gaming café events.

 With the launch of our Gaming ram we have ventured into the gaming industry with a big bang. To promote Xtreme gaming ram and other gaming products we have concluded one gaming event in Mumbai and another was an online event with participants from 8 Asian countries.

In addition, we are also actively participating in college events across India. We did more than 12 college events which include some prestigious colleges like IIT-BHU, BITS PILANI, SN SHETTY and more.

Vikas Gupta :-  Is there any plan to launch a new range of products this year?

Mr. Vipul Modi :-  Within Zion we have recently launched Xtreme gaming ram and currently are focusing to promote the same. In addition we have also recently added HGST Mobile Drives, formerly called Hitachi drives. We are currently in talks with a few new vendors. Soon, you will see new tie-ups of big brands with Abacus peripherals.

Vikas Gupta :-  Retail segment is growing at a good. How is the company planning to encash on this segment?

Mr. Vipul Modi :-  Retail is growing at a steady pace. Our mandate for 2016 is reach out to as many retailers and resellers and educate them on the benefits of doing business with us. 2016 is an important year for us and we have aggressive plans to connect with more than 8000 channel partners through online and offline initiatives.

Vikas Gupta :-  What are some of the points where Abacus Peripherals Pvt Ltd products score over the competing forces in India?

Mr. Vipul Modi :-  Our strength lies in the fact that we can create brands. ZION and Antec stand testimony to the fact that you do not need to be the cheapest to get more market share. Consistent efforts backed by strong product fundamentals are more important. Another strength of Abacus is its relationship in T2 and T3 cities of India. We are proud to say that more than 50% of our revenue comes from areas that are not T1. Another strength of Abacus is our strong focus on post-sales support. Any brand serviced by Abacus will not have any complaining customer.

Vikas Gupta :-  What kind of strategy have you planned to position abacus peripherals products successfully in the market?

Mr. Vipul Modi :-  For 2016, we want to keep it very simple. We just need to focus on 1) Creating value for our customers by aggressive marketing and channel engagement activities. 2) Offer peace of mind to our customers in terms of post-sales support. We want to ensure the profits channel partners make from us get retained with them. 3) Focus on increasing the spread of our reach by reaching out to new partners and territories.

Vikas Gupta :-  How many channel partners do you have? Do you have any channel related initiatives to drive channel growth?

Mr. Vipul Modi :-  Currently, we are working with 5000+ channel partners across 300+ cities and towns of India. All our channel related activities will be concentrated to increase that to 8000 partners across 400 towns and cities. Strategies are now well placed. We are not only planning to market a product or just fine with branding activities but a lot of activities will be taken to educate the partner. Coming quarter will see a lot of ATL and BTL activates from Abacus Peripherals in the channel.