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HCL Infosystem's plans

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JULY 8. Despite the downturn witnessed in the notebook computers (laptops) segment, HCL Infosystems is pressing ahead with its expansion plans. Last fiscal saw total notebook sales declining by 15 per cent but the company says it not only beat the downtrend but pipped IBM to the number two spot in the first quarter of 2002. Compaq, however, has retained the top slot.

"We are busy breaking new products into new markets," informs the HCL Infosystems Vice-President, Rajendra Kumar. A distributor of Toshiba notebooks, HCL Infosystems has lined up plans to launch seven variants made by the Japanese giant, rated to be the world number one in this segment.

Since the company was busy cementing its presence in several other sectors, notebooks were not given their due place in its marketing campaigns. That is now changing. "We did lag behind in performance but the gap has shrunk since the last 18 months," points out Jyotin Verma, the company's Country Head (Marketing).

The first step has been to dispel the image of Toshiba being the "Sony TV of the notebook sector" by introducing cheaper products while retaining the quality that Toshiba is known for. Among the seven notebooks to be launched is one that will cost less than Rs. 76,000. "We will open new markets by bringing top-of-the-line products at affordable prices," adds Mr. Verma.

The second step is to leverage the huge sales infrastructure and support capabilities to enter `B', `C' and `D' class towns. Although `A' class towns account for 80 per cent of notebook sales, company's marketing planners believe the smaller towns will corner 40 per cent of the market within four years.

In tandem with these measures, the company also correctly anticipated the slowdown in corporate sales. It, therefore, decided to approach small entrepreneurs and the results were gratifying. Take Kerala for instance where sales averaged 20 notebooks a month. A marketing campaign saw Kottayam alone accounting for 20 notebook sales while the average for the State has risen to 75 a month.

Trading notebooks is one among HCL Infosystems' several activities. It was the country's first PC producer, launching the Busybee PC two years after Apple introduced its PC in 1984. HCL also initiated Beanstalk for homes and Infiniti for corporates. It offers all types of IT solutions and services.

The company is also an `A' category ISP and is partnering Net2phone to offer international Internet-based voice telephony. Toshiba notebooks are among several products such as Nokia phones, Toshiba copiers, Ericsson's telecom solutions that are marketed by the company.

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