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Our Bureau

Pune , March 7

PUNE city's lot of young, urban professionals, its many IT companies and BPOs, among others, are the reasons why consumer durable manufacturers here are smiling all the way to the bank. This erstwhilepensioner's paradise is now a city which sees some of the biggest spends on electronic gadgets and gizmos, consumer durables, lifestyle accessories and designer homes.

Sony World's Pune outlets expect to close the current fiscal with a total sales revenue of Rs 45 crore and are already its best-performing exclusive outlets. The CEO of Sony World, Pune, Mr Jitesh Oswal, said here that the top favourites on the Pune buyer's radar are products such as digital cameras, handycams and even premium products such as plasma televisions, LCDs and projection TVs. "We sell around 200 handycams and 150 digital cameras a month. The market for these products is growing by about 200 per cent and 300 per cent respectively," Mr Oswal said. He owns the two Sony World showrooms in the city. Talking to newspersons on the third anniversary of the brand store in the city, Mr Oswal unveiled Klan Klub Card, a customer loyalty programme which will offer 500 clients who have spent over Rs 1 lakh at the showroom a set of privileges including at-home display and demonstration of products. Also thrown in will be invitations to special workshops on products such as DVDs, handycams and home theatre systems and a sneak preview of new products.

Sony World on Wheels, which will leverage the city's large population of BPOs, IT companies and corporate houses, is being launched. "A fully loaded, customised vehicle with a variety of our products will actually set up shop for a couple of days or more at the various corporates in the city and tap the large residential colonies here," says Mr Oswal, who points out that with single brand outlets now being the current consumer preference, the time is ripe for such a concept.

The mobile Sony World will not just display the products and demonstrate it but will also take orders from the employees working in these companies who will be offered on-the-spot finance for the product of their choice. Sony, meanwhile, is all set to increase the number of its exclusive brand stores from the level of 44 just now to over 50 by the end of 2005, according to Mr Oswal, who said that a new range of products including a premium laptop range is fuelling sales.

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