Premier Systems & Peripherals on expansion mode

Madurai : Besides
focusing on the distribution activities, Madurai-based sub-distributor Premier
Systems & Peripherals is looking to expand its retail presence across the
region this fiscal. Recently Premier was nominated as one of the five Acer
sub-distributors in the state for the upcountry region for the distribution of
desktops and laptops. The vendor will be rolling out a new sub-distribution
model for the distribution of these products. “There is a huge cash crunch,
due to which we are facing numerous cheque default cases. The distribution
margins are also shrinking on a regular basis. However, on the consumer front we
still feel the upbeat mood in spending for commercial laptops and desktops. We
see this as an opportunity for us to enhance our retail presence in the
region,” said K Senthil Nathan, CEO, Premier Systems & Peripherals,
Madurai.

Currently Premier has a retail
showroom in Madurai and is looking at setting up two more showrooms outside
Madurai in the surrounding regions. Nathan said that the company wouldn't move
away from the distribution model. “We are looking at increasing our bottomline
by enhancing our focus in the retail segment. There is huge money in the retail
front and we are looking at setting up a couple of showrooms, one in Tirunelveli
and the other in Trichy,” he informed. He also said that though retail
showrooms are prevalent in those regions, Premier could still reap the benefit
as everyone has their own share in retail.

“Footfalls in every retail
showroom are increasing, which gives opportunity for everyone to play around in
the segment. Being present for almost 14 years in the industry, Premier has
managed to obtain huge goodwill among partners and consumers. By providing right
technology and solution, we feel that we can excel in our attempt at enhancing
our retail operations,” Nathan claimed.

He also informed that the
growth in distribution business has gradually come down. Instead of the 30
percent growth that used to happen three years ago, the company is witnessing
10-12 percent growth for the last couple of years. Agreeing that the increasing
sales in laptops have brought down the consumer interaction to a great level,
Nathan said that the company is seeing a huge opportunity in terms of servicing
the laptops. “Already we have started servicing third party laptops and apart
from that we are the authorized service providers for Acer laptops. We are
looking at laptop servicing as a huge potential, where every month we are
servicing 20-25 third party laptops regularly,” he added.