Konica Minolta has been selling printers in the Indian market for last few years. The company claims that it has been able to maintain double digit growth and is still growing. However, it is facing similar challenges which other counterparts in the industry are challenged with. But the company is relying now more on the new range of printers. Kuldeep Malhotra, Vice President, Konica Minolta Business solutions shares his channel roadmap for year 2017.
DT: What have been the key highlights of the year 2016 for Konica Minolta?
A: The way we planned and projected our growth, we have been able to achieve it so far. Yet we are left with few more months to close in 16-17 FY so we are very much sure to reach at next level of our market growth. While first half of the year was great, in the third quarter we experienced slight dip due to the market conditions. However, we achieved several landmarks. We launched series of products throughout these 9 months and almost introduced 18 new models in the market. We took these models into the market and got a good response. Recently we launched 2 new 25 PPM and 30 PPM printers to fill the gap of product range where we were not there. Now as we are about to close this FY, we are sure with these new product range we will be able to penetrate into both the commercial as well as the government segments.
DT: How do you see the positioning of Konica Minolta in the Indian market?
A: We have already established our strong foothold in the market. Konica Minolta is doing quite well in Office solutions and production printing solutions since its inception in Indian market. Both these business divisions are doing extremely well and we are equally focused on these two segments. When we look at H1, we were able to maintain our market share in both black & white and color printer segment. However, the color did not do well as partners did have the inventory left with them due to slow business movement from government side. But in 3rd quarter we saw color picking up again which ultimately helped us in maintain the momentum in both. In H1, we have registered 25% growth. But overall we have been able to manifest double digit growth so far which is very encouraging for us. We want to continue this momentum in the next financial year with our new range of products in the market.
DT: Can you briefly share about your current channel strength and numbers?
A: Currently we have around 150 direct partners whom we are billing directly for our office and A4 product range. They have around 400 to 500 resellers who are supporting them in the market. We also have strong penetration among copy shop establishment and also got our presence felt in corporates, mid-size and large companies through our partners and our own sales team.
DT: Where do you plan to extend your business reach in coming months?
A: Yes we are looking to tap opportunities in SMBs and mid-size corporates as we lack our channel expertise there. So our focus will be to create additional channel to tap these market this year. Even few of our current partners will work closely with us to get into these two segment. This initiative will surly help us in getting much required growth to set new milestone by the end of this year.
DT: What are your upcoming channel promotion & engagement plan?
A: We have a standard marcom policy for our direct partners. We give them the product driven schemes. We give them revenue rebate on hardware, consumable and spares. We’ve everything in our plan for them – right from roadshows and engagement programs to participation in exhibitions and demos. Besides direct partners, we are running promotional scheme for resellers also based on point system. These are huge motivational factors for our large set of partners to sell our products.
