MP3 Players Yet to Strike a Chord in Delhi
By Sharmee Roy
New Delhi, June 24, 2004
With MP3 players becoming hot property, most vendors are foraying into this product line, but the channels in the capital are not much interested to push the product in the market.
Speaking to ChannelTimes, the reseller community informed that currently the market size for MP3 is only in the range of 5 to 10 percent. Though it is a growing market, the channels do not find it a lucrative option for them at the moment.
According to Shyam Modi, director, Modi Peripherals, "Looking at the current market scenario for MP3 players, we are not too keen on pushing them for the moment. We might think of dealing in this product line only when the market opens up more for them."
Citing yet another reason Binit Kumar, head of marketing, Comnet Vision, said, "The channels are not focused on the product since the sales for the product are not very enthusiastic and on an average we receive only one or two queries once in a while. Looking at the MP3 player market price-wise and quantity-wise, it is not a product to be stocked."
Moreover, while the vendors seem to be very upbeat about the product, hardly any channel activity is seen from them, the resellers pointed out. Also, the distributors are looking at a different set of channels to push the product. Yogesh Dutta, national sales manager, Aditya Infotech, feels, "it is a virgin market and the IT channels won't be too keen in marketing MP3 players as they are simple box movers. It is a lifestyle product which is more of a consumer electronics (CE) channel."
However, major vendors remain optimistic about the Indian MP3 market with leading electronics giants such as Benq recently foraying into this as yet relatively untapped market segment.
