Kingston to expand its presence in India

Kingston Technology is aiming to become the ‘favorite’ brand among the end-customers in India. The company hopes to achieve the ‘most preferred brand’ status for memory products in the country. In order to achieve that, Kingston plans to recruit more channel partners in the next couple of months across the country and has unveiled its strategies to expand presence in the metros and B- and C-class cities. On the anvil are also channel schemes that would drive sales across the country even while strengthening its services and support level.

“Value-added benefits for existing channel partners would not just be monetary-based but would also include aspects like concrete business experience and how well they brand the entire portfolio,” said Rajesh Panicker, Country Manager, Kingston Technology.

Reacting to Kingston’s announcements, partners in metros felt enthusiastic about the move, although partners in upcountry markets felt that Kingston’s support to channel partners in B- and C-class cities were not very adequate and felt that this would not be an easy task for Kingston.

According to Vipul Garg, Director of Agra-based Expert Solutions, “Kingston needs to revamp its channel partner policies. The need of the hour is better support and greater visibility to partners.”

Sanjay Langer, Director of Jammu-based AGM Sales Corporation also felt that in the last two years that he has been with the company, the service and support level for partners in upcountry areas was very poor.

Other partners like
GS Chhabra, Director, Indore-based Byte Peripherals Systems; Surinder Singh, Proprietor of Chandigarh-based KS Trading Company; Rohit Kohli, CEO, Kanpur-based Comexcell Technologies, and partners in Himachal Pradesh also felt that the support level from the vendor was not up to the mark and there was enough room for improvement.

Responding to the issues faced by partners, company sources from Kingston said that they are in constant touch with all partners and advise them regularly on various channel-related issues including supply-chain management.

AMRITA TEJASVI