Mr. Rajiv Bapna, Director, Amkette
Q. What range of products and solutions does Amkette provides and the latest offerings for its customers?
Amkette is a leading convergence technology company. It operates in four different segments namely, Digital Entertainment, Wireless Peripherals, Digital Storage and IT Accessories. It has rigorous innovation based product introduction model and is consistently introducing State of Art Technology Products in above categories. The latest offerings in its range are :- EVO TV, which makes any TV, even a low end CRT TV, into a Smart Television. In recent months it has also introduced Smart BT Bluetooth Keyboard, Black Diamond Wireless Combo, Tru View Webcam, Wi-Key Touch HTPC Keyboard and Air Wireless Mouse. Additionally, it has introduced a full range of Audio, Video Cables and high quality of Laptop Sleeves. In Digital storage range, it has Flash Drives, Memory Cards, CDR/RWs & DVDR/RWs.
Q. As an entrepreneur, what difficulties/roadblocks you had to face in Indian market to make Amkette as one of the leading brands?
Indian Market is growing yet it has its own challenges. The biggest roadblocks are : lack of consistency in government policies and logistics management in smaller cities (C & D cities).
To obivate the logistic problems, Amkette has invested heavily in developing nationwide sales and customer service infrastructure. Also over a period, we have learnt to be nimble and have developed a sound product development model. For example, our journey from leadership in Personal Storage to Personal Technology Products has been very smooth. Our current product portfolio is highly relevant to mobile generation. It is worth noting that 70% products in the current portfolio, did not exist three years ago.
Q. What is Amkette’s market strategy or any particular vertical you are focusing at?
From a Storage Pioneer, Amkette has diversified into a Digital Products company with a range of 150 products encompassing 15 categories including the Evo TV, Web cameras, wireless keyboards etc.. By incorporating strong elements of design, and meaningful innovation, the brand is competing with global peripheral device manufacturers. Amkette is a leading brand in Wireless Peripherals, Premium Peripherals, Hubs/Card Readers and Convergence devices.
Q. How many Channel Partners do you have in India and what is your channel strategy?
Amkette has a strong distribution network across India. It has a network of over 6000 channel partners in 110 cities and has a strong network of over 500 distributors. To drive the momentum in the market, we innovate and devise new channel schemes from time to time.
Q. What is your future plans and programmes for the year 2013?
‘Mobility’ is a dominant theme today. More and more people are consuming music, watching videos, playing games and talking to their loved ones, all on the go. Amkette understands this emerging scenario and to address this has created a new division – Amkette Acoustix. Through rigorous R&D for over 2 years, Amkette is soon launching a range of portable audio products based on a comprehensive consumer insights to bring out a range which will enable the consumers to consume noise-less music from their mobile devices on their Amkette headphones, with in-built mics for mobile phones to enable voice and video calling along with music. The headphones work on an open system to ensure 99.9% compatibility across all mobile devices.