While the overall economy has taken a hit during the lockdown, the IT hardware sector converted this situation into an opportunity to witnessing business growth since the lockdown was lifted. Sudhir Goel, Chief Business Officer at Acer India stated, “We have seen an increase in demand for laptops both from the enterprise and consumer side. To help them purchase the right device, we also identified newer categories like – Work, Learn, Create and Game from Home. Also, what was before a shared device, laptops today are becoming a personal device with each household needing to have two or more laptops as mobile phones hit the ceiling in terms of capability. We have also had multiple products launched during this phase and have seen a great response from our consumers towards them.”
Challenges for Business
With people becoming increasingly dependent on e-commerce to meet their technology needs, Acer has been working relentlessly at this tough time to ensure that customers receive their shipments on time and the rise in demand for essentials is met. Sudhir Goel said, “We have witnessed a surge in demand from all segments such as lifestyle, gaming and also the enterprise sector. Tapping further into this new emerging demand for laptops in India, we have also introduced Work-From-Home and Learn-From-Home PCs in the market starting from Rs. 9999. The most challenging test for us is to get the entire supply and distribution operation adapted to the new normal of operating including contactless delivery. I believe the modern supply chain will include lean operators who can ramp up and achieve high service levels at short notice.”
Sudhir further added, “Also, the current pandemic not only compels us to safeguard from the virus but at the same time poses many other health and security challenges for employees and businesses. I believe, having structured response plans for situations like these (pandemics) is seen to be an important step in strengthening an organization's resilience.”
Plans for Maximizing Business
Acer India is relentlessly working to strengthen business growth in coming months and realigning its resources and channel partners to bring the business on track. Sudhir Goel commented, “As a leading PC brand, our top priority is supporting our customers and channel partners. Hence, a lot of our plans are attached to theirs. However, with the ripple effect of COVID-19 felt around the globe, we understand that the plans we had set out to achieve need to be re-filtered. Therefore, we have set out all our plans from quarter to quarter depending on how the situation will unfold. We are also closely looking at the response from our customers in this business scenario. In these rare situations, we have put in the time, learned what we needed to, and pushed ourselves to transform and navigate the disruption. At Acer, we have always been a customer-centric organization and our motive is to be nimble and optimistic. Upholding these values, our communication moving forward will be more cause-based. We believe that in an adverse situation like this, it is more about building a connection and ensuring it stays rather than selling a product.”
