The sentiment in the laptop industry like several other industries in the State is decided by factors not directly connected to it. The Internet and the emergence of e-commerce websites changed the dynamics of the trade. Sites like Amazon, Flipkart purchased items in large quantities which helped them negotiate great prices which were passed on to the consumer. Given the small size of the Goa market, local traders could never match the prices quoted on these platforms.
Shailesh Phadte, Manager of the Acer dealership in Panjim said “Everyone would walk into the outlet 2 or 3 years ago and demand the prices they were getting on line. They would yell at me, demanding the same price, which was just not possible. The prices they quoted were usually Rs 3500 to Rs 4500 less. In a small market like this it is difficult to give such discounts.”
Today however he claims the situation has changed with the people walking into his outlet in the 80:20 ratio. 80% , he claimed, knew what they wanted and were willing to pay for it, they were, he claimed also aware of the pitfalls of purchasing laptops online especially in a State like Goa where service was an issue. The 20% would walk in and demand he match the online rates. In a year, he claimed to sell around 500 Acer laptops. When asked if Diwali would be good for him he said sales during Chaturthi is usually better for him. The season usually ensured a 10% to15 % rise in sales.
The average Goan consumer is brand conscious though is always on the lookout for a good bargain. He prefers HP, Dell and Lenovo in that order.
The Lenovo dealership which is one of the oldest in the Panjim looks quite empty these days. Pravin Patil, sales executive was categorical that the Internet had eaten away a large percentage of their business. He said “earlier in the festival season we would have families come in and pick up a laptop for the college going kid but now that is over. The margins earlier were between Rs 1500 to 2000 but now that has been slashed to Rs 400-500.”
There were he said some customers who still came to them out of loyalty. The outlet usually sold around 400 laptops a year and with the Goan market consuming around 4000 laptops a year, the future he said was not very bright. He said out of every 10 people who walked into the shop 7 were usually college going kids but now with the government providing around 15,200 laptops to college students free of cost, even that market had reduced. The Lenovo-make laptops, priced at 18,888, were provided to students free-of-cost under the scheme.
The laptop has a 14-inch display, 500GB external memory and 4GB random-access memory (RAM). As per the scheme, the laptops are actually to be provided to students of Class XI, but as there is a backlog, the laptops are distributed to the students when they are studying in Class XII. With a warranty off a year, maintenance beyond that is the responsibility of the student. This scheme of providing computers or laptops to students was started by Manohar Parrikar during his earlier term as chief minister.
While the e-commerce platforms may have decimated the sale of certain brands, at the HCL dealership, they were sitting quite confident of sales. The company had issued a statement that laptops purchased online would not be serviced by the company.
Smita Kulgoenkar Manager said they were selling around 80-100 laptops a month and the guarantee of good service was a very strong push. Diwali sales were expected to be around 100-150. With the various offers like the warranty offer, it would not be a problem.
The government decision to distribute free laptops to college students has caused some ire. Sunil Benelho , Manager who sells Lenovo said it had destroyed his market. He was selling around 20-25 laptops every month and was now focused on after sales service to earn his livelihood.
Another player Assus, while keeping a low profile, is slowly increasing its sales. Now selling around 25 laptops a month, the team believes the guaranteed after sales support as well as the quality of the products would help them.
None of the dealers interviewed were able to provide an idea of the size of the market though everyone agreed it was the young professional who was largely buying laptops. The college student who was earlier an important market was now being provided for by the State government. One could hazard a guess and say that the State government was the biggest client in the State if the numbers were anything to go by. Taking all the numbers into consideration one could safely say the Goa market is around 18,000 with the State government buying 15,000 odd.
Given the rapid change in technology it would be interesting to know what the future holds for this market.
