The Indian IT distribution market is thriving well and has immense growth opportunities for distribution houses. Sound Solutions has performed really well in recent years and has cemented its position in the western market. Today, Sound Solutions is growing well and keeping the growth momentum high with its continuous efforts. It is one of the leading IT partners in Maharashtra and covers a big market for PCs and other IT solutions products. It has all leading tech brands on board and serving the huge customers demand. Rajeev Ranjan, Editor, Digital Terminal recently spoke to Sunil Thariani, Director, Sound Solutions. He talked about their growth, market landscape, opportunities, challenges, vision and much more. Read the excerpt below:
Rajeev: How has been the revenue growth for Sound Solutions in last 2-3 years? What kind of growth have you observed for your company in recent years?
Sunil: Sound Solutions is one of the fastest growing distribution houses and has been at the forefront of the competitive market landscape. In last 2-3 years, we have seen a remarkable growth which is attributed to our tireless efforts. Our target has been to keep contributing to our brands with which we are associated. In the last few years, our growth trajectory has been phenomenal and we are quite satisfied with it. In the FY 2019 - 20, Sound solutions clocked 50 Cr turnover only in channel business and service centre of Epson and Acer. Whereas, in FY 2020 – 21, we clocked 100 Cr turnover out of which channel was 55 Cr and new business corporate was 45 Cr. Even in the previous financial year 2021- 22, the turnover was 210 Cr out of which channel contributed 70 Cr, corporate contributed 65 Cr, online Amazon contributed 30 Cr and Government business Gem was 45 Cr. While in the service centre space, we grew by 20% year on year. Overall, our business has grown exponentially and we expect to continue this momentum in this financial year as well.
Rajeev: What are the key factors that have contributed to such a remarkable success?
Sunil: We are growing at a good pace and there are a lot of aspects that have contributed to our growth. our objective is to further accelerate the growth wheel in coming time. Starting Government business through GEM and online business through Amazon seller flex has helped us in taking the lead. Our engagement with AMD has majorly helped us in fuelling the GeM business. Earlier we were only selling Acer brand in 2019 but now we are focusing on all 4 PC brands including Acer, Dell, HP and Lenovo. Our extreme efforts in identifying the opportunities and taking advantage of the market scenario help us in driving good business.
Rajeev: Which key brands do you serve currently and what are your commitments/support for these brands? What is your vision in terms of developing the partnership in coming years?
Sunil: We are currently working with all 4 leading PC brands which includes HP, Dell, Lenovo and Acer. We offer all product line laptops, desktops, display and All in one. Our commitment for these PC brands is to help them improve their market share and reach out to a large customer base. We work with hands in hands with them to cater to the ever-increasing demand. Our efficiency in understanding the business landscape and customer interest makes us the most preferred IT partner.
From here, our vision is to build our reach and tap the new opportunities exist in the market. The market is quite big and opportunities are immense so our focus is clear and that is serving the customers with full potential.
Rajeev: Please tell about your operations across Maharashtra. How much partners do you work with and what are your plans regarding enhancing the partner network?
Sunil: In Maharashtra, our base is quite strong and we are relentlessly trying to further strengthen the grip in terms of connecting to more partners. We are currently billing to 380 partners across Maharashtra and our target is to increase this number to 500 by end of December 2022. As soon as we increase our partner network, we will be able to capitalize the immense growth opportunities and that is what we are looking for. We have offices in Sion, Lamington Road, Vashi, Thane and Bhiwandi. So with this kind of strength, we are growing good in Maharashtra.
Rajeev: Can you shed some light on the challenges for distribution houses? Is there any advice or suggestion for brands or Government for a better business environment?
Sunil: The biggest challenge is price war. Mumbai as the Commercial city is very costly on everything, example Rent, employee salaries, transportation and many others factors. Where B and C cities are having benefit so they usually sell their products in Mumbai market. Due to which prices in Mumbai market are very aggressive which disturbs Mumbai market. But we have no solution to this as after GST implementation this will happen. Now we need to control our expenses to fight with B and C cities players.
Rajeev: Where do you see Sound Solutions by 2025? Do you have any plans to launch your online portal for further scaling your business?
Sunil: We see sound solutions a 500 Cr company by 2025 as Gem and corporate are really growing very fast. Our targeted growth is in line with our objective of becoming the biggest IT distributor in Maharashtra. We aim to further push our limits and lead the market. Currently we don’t have any plans of launching online portal. We started our sales at Flipkart from October 2022 while earlier we were only active on Amazon portal.
