The Indian networking market has seen soaring demand for Wi-Fi products in last one year due to additional demand emerging from new segments such as WFH and LFH. TP-Link, the market leader in India is already catering to this huge demand. Currently the brand is most trusted and affordable networking brand in India. In terms of reach, TP-Link has very robust and strong distribution network across India. While talking to DT, Bijoy Alaylo, VP – Channel Sales, TP-Link shared his views on the challenges and opportunities in the market.
Challenges Affecting Business
Commenting about the business operations during the second wave, Bijoy Alaylo, VP – Channel Sales, TP-Link stated, “The second wave was a more horrifying one due to the mass spread of Covid-19. This gripped the complete nation and stricter lockdowns were imposed. Hence most of the business owners had to keep their offices completely non-operational and business was very low as compared to last year’s lockdown. The major challenge was that many of the partners and colleague’s own family or close friends were affected which mentally got them not being able to concentrate more on business. Hence the whole cycle of business was affected for the traditional market.”
Opportunities to Grow
The networking market has got a boost due to pandemic as the demand from WFH and LFH segments grew significantly. Bijoy Alaylo, TP-Link commented, “Fintech investments, Online gaming and WFH & LFH are the biggest emerging opportunities right now in India. We are already in midst of orders from clients relating to these industries. TP-Link has the overall basket of products ready to cater to these types of clients and this is where we will be focusing on with our marketing and GTM strategies.”
Service Support Policy
“Though it was a tough time for us to manage the physical service points due to the lockdown we tried to keep the customers informed about the restrictive time slots through our partner community and website updates. We have increased the number of tech support personnel to facilitate the consumers to reach us faster and get better solutions,” stated Bijoy Alaylo, TP-Link.
Best Support for Partners
The channel partners remains an integral part of a brand and contribute a lot in the success. Bijoy Alaylo, TP-Link said, “Regular incentive schemes, making the stocks available has been our top priority at this times. Currently due to the global chipset shortage there has been an uncalled hike in the price of the products. We are trying to reduce the burden of the channel with regular schemes or channel support programs that would give the partners some breather to cover up the losses due to lockdowns.”
