''Our mantra for the year is to get closer to the channel''

In just six months since he took over the reins at Logitech Electronics
India, Moninder Jain has already got a game plan for increasing the brand recall
of the company. High on his agenda is having more hands and feet in the market,
with an expansion of his team. Next, he wants to evangelize the new Logitech
Registered Dealers channel program.

What new plans do you have for Logitech?

Initially, we had just three people in our team. Now we want to have more
people to cover the entire country. In the north, we will have three people to
oversee Lucknow, Jaipur, and Kolkata markets. In the west two more people will
join our existing team to look at Ahmedabad and Nagpur or Indore. Down south,
two more people will handle the Bangalore and Hyderabad regions. We will also
have a product manager on board soon. We are increasing our team to get closer
to the market. Our mantra for the year is to get closer to the channel.

Will you be enhancing your product offering?

Yes, we are going to debut some more products in India. As of now, our
portfolio has mice, keyboards, desktops (a keyboard and mice combination), web-

cams, gaming devices and speakers. The latter is sold under the Labtec brand
name. By the end of this fiscal, we will introduce our laser mice, which is the
first of their kind in the world.

How are the laser mice different from optical ones?

The Logitech MX Laser Engine has 20x more sensitivity to surface detail-or
tracking power-than optical mice. It can track reliably even on tricky
polished or wood-grain surfaces. The mouse is rechargeable and comes with a
charging base station and lithium-ion battery, which does not need replacing.

Available in two colors-gunmetal silver and onyx black- the mouse will be
priced upwards within Rs 6,000. The laser sensor has developed in collaboration
between Logitech and Agilent Technologies. This mouse is targeted at a niche
segment of customers who want the latest technology and corporate users.

What plans do you have for retail?

We will have shop-in-shop counters in retail outlets. Under the Logitech
Retail Partner (LRP) initiative launched in March 2003, we have appointed 30
partners. But not much traction was seen in this space after the initial few
months. We will now add another 20 by the end of January, 2005. The LRPs will be
enveloped under the new Logitech Registered Dealers (Lords) channel program.

What is the Lords program?

The Lords program is a single program to reward channel partners loyal to
Logitech. We are running a program called the Land Of Logitech for the OND, 2004
quarter, wherein we offer mystery gifts to top performers. This will ensure that
there will be no or minimal discounting in the product prices. The top
performers will also we inducted in the Lords programs. We will offer them
special benefits to our partners under this program.

Also, partners who are also part of the Genuine Logitech Dealer program run
by our distributor, Rashi Peripherals, will also be a part of the Lords program.

Most buyers perceive Logitech devices to be higher priced than other
brands, which offer the same performance. How are you going to change this
mindset?

Logitech's sales have increased y-on-y. India currently enjoys the lowest
price that Logitech offers globally. However, we have noticed that when it comes
to making purchase decisions, customers are very comfortable buying those
products which sport a 'Made in US' and 'Made in Switzerland' tag on it.
Since Logitech is a Swiss company, we have decided to mention the latter caption
on all our boxes to reaffirm customer faith.

What is the retail sales rate of peripherals vis-a-vis those sold along
with PCs?

Most peripherals like mice and keyboards are sold with PCs. The upgrade and
solitary purchase of these products is not as high. Most home PCs has been
brought in the last two and the half years. Once the PC penetration improves,
the retail ratio will be higher. Almost 85% of our sales are through the
channel, while the rest is from our OEM business.

Vinita Bhatia