In order for a brand to evolve, there is a need for a two-way dialogue with customers. Operating in isolation does not compare to collaborative growth, in that it is necessary to understand what customers want from any brand, in order to build better products and to deliver a seamless technology experience
Nikunj Murukutla, General Manager, Consumer & Small Business, Dell India – “We have a plan to continue our reach to customers by adding 30-40 cities in the next 6 months’ time.”
A clear vision and consistent enthusiasm with regards to its multiple product offerings, gives customers reason to invest trust in the brand. Each product from Dell’s kitty is crafted keeping in mind the value it adds in the life of the user, thereby resulting in an innovative end-to-end product portfolio, wherein there is a technology solution for each unique technology requirement. Innovating to deliver the best and latest technology to customers is a key factor for Dell in driving growth and in building relationships with users. Nikunj Murukutla, General Manager, Consumer & Small Business, Dell India excerpts, “We believe in purposeful innovation and that belief is what keeps our products new and exciting. Along with the PCs across different categories – we offer pre-installed software along with it such as the anti-theft software called Lojack – which is completely unique to Dell. We are also the only vendor in the market which is offering a bundled version of the Office 2016 Home & Student edition before others, which is a significant move.”
Expansion plans for India
Dell’s retail presence spans across over 1200 cities and towns in the country across multiple retail formats – Dell Exclusive Stores (DES) as well as Large Format Retail partners like Croma, Reliance Digital etc. and multibrand outlets (MBO). Shedding more light on this, Nikunj Murukutla says, “We have more than 650 DES (Dell Exclusive Stores) across regions – even in remote towns like Dimapur, Nagaland, Islampur, Nagercoil, Burj in Gujrat, Sri Nagar and many more which gives us a first mover advantage in terms of exclusive present, by inviting customers to reach out whenever they have a technology-related need. We plan to continue our reach to customers by adding 30-40 cities in the next 6 months’ time.” Marketing and promotion has always been a primary function for Dell’s PC business and it is planning to continue the same in its approach to engage with customers. While Dell differentiates its audience by different categories across Tiers and according to their understanding of technology and willingness to adopt PC technology, company’s range of promotional offers through the year, offer something for every individual. Nikunj Murukutla further adds that Dell value the feedback system immensely in partnership with the channel partners across regions. This mechanism works two ways for Dell – to understand the customer’s needs and to communicate the finer details of its wide range of products, offerings and services. For example, the anti-theft software inbuilt in Dell’s devices which is very unique to Dell is often not considered in the initial stages of a purchase decision. But with the help of our channel partners it becomes easier to communicate offerings in detail to the customers to close the end sale.
According to Nikunj Murukutla, “Channel meets across various cities on a very regular basis work best for channel management and enables our partners to consistently hear from us as we reiterate their importance in the functioning and growth of our business. Our partners appreciate when they hear from us in detail on the available products, various ways of approaching the customers and upcoming products. We also try to engage and keep our partners aware of the initiatives we are taking to create consumer awareness about PC adoptions. This year we launched Dell Aarambh – a pan India PC for Education program aimed at the three key pillars of the education ecosystem – the teachers, parents and students in Tier 3 cities and beyond.” The year-long project aims to reach 1 million students and 1, 00,000 teachers across 5,000 schools; and 2, 00,000 parents in 75 cities across the country. In a larger context, PC adoption can enable the nurturing of digital citizens who will serve as the building blocks for a rapidly developing Digital India.
Channel is indirectly front-ending the brand across regions to its customers – hence channel partners play a major role in enabling decisions of the finer details of execution when it comes to customer engagement activities. They are truly Dell’s partners when it comes to building awareness about PC technology and Dell’s end-to-end technology offerings, and the company ensures that they feel the same as they work with them. Dell values the feedback it receives from partners and keeps them in complete consideration while devising its product strategies.
Finally…
Focusing more on 2 in 1s and slowing bidding adieu to tabs, Dell’s products speak for themselves and its marketing campaigns focus on creating more awareness about PC use, the benefits of adopting new technologies and a variety of form factors, in order to enable the customers to do more with Dell. Also, Dell is taking help of its channel partners to make initiatives like Dell Aarambh, festive offers, more successful.
