Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Jun 22, 2004
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Jun 22, 2004 |
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Marketing
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Channels and Franchises Boston Acoustics sets great store by dealer training Sriram Srinivasan
Mr Shoby Sebastian, Sebastian & Sons (P) Ltd, Mr Michael Khare, General Manager, Boston India, Mr Christophe Cairoli, International Sales Director (Europe, Middle East, Africa), Boston Acoustics, and Mr J.S. Puri, Senior Vice-President, Sharda Motor Industries Ltd, at a press conference in Chennai.
Chennai , June 21 BOSTON Acoustics, which announced its entry into the Indian market last week, has said it will focus on dealer training and direct marketing to gain a foothold here. The Massachusetts-based company will market its range of audio products for the home entertainment and automotive segments through Sharda Motor Industries and Sebastian and Sons. While the latter will distribute Boston's audio products in South India, Sharda will be its exclusive distributor for home and custom speakers for the country, as well as for car audio products for the rest of India. Mr Christophe Cairoli, Boston's International Sales Director (Europe, Middle East and Africa), said the company will use less of media but more of direct marketing and dealer training to make customers understand "the unique characteristics of Boston." "We want to select dealers who understand the product, and our emphasis will be on training," because the ability of the salesperson in the shop will prove vital in this business segment, Mr Cairoli said. Boston, whose products will appear in Indian retail shelves only in August, has not firmed up its pricing plan yet, though it is quite sure that its products will compete against those of companies like Bose. That is, in the high-premium category. Although estimates of the size of the Indian high-end audio market vary from Rs 100 crore to Rs 500 crore, with a strong grey market, Boston is hopeful of clocking over Rs 20 crore revenues in the first year itself. The company, Mr Cairoli said, is planning to open six exclusive showrooms apart from about one hundred points of sale, which may also include shop-in-shops. He said the home audio segment might lead the automotive segment in overall sales but not by much. The sales ratio of home audio products to car audio products may be 60:40. The car audio products will be sold off the shelves initially, as tie-ups with carmakers may not immediately happen. Initially, Boston's products for the Indian market will be shipped out of its warehouse in the Netherlands. The company also has plans to service the market, later on, through a warehouse in Dubai, which currently houses only a small sales office. That decision, however, will depend on how the market develops, he said. Boston Acoustics, which is listed on the Nasdaq, saw its net sales for 2003-04 decrease 26 per cent to $52.6 million, from $70.6 million a year ago.
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