SOGO COMPUTERS: Banking on new tie-ups

For Bangalore-based sub-disty Sogo Computers, 2004-05 brought in new
alliances and helped strengthen existing ones. While the organization went ahead
with the usual business with its principal vendors, it also managed many new
tie-ups especially on the product lines with the likes of Salora, Iris Computers
and Thakral Computers for Apple products.

The organization continued to project itself as a one-stop shop for all IT
products centered around PC business. The top three brands that contributed to
the overall revenues were Acer at 40%, HP Presario at 30%, and the rest by
various other partners. It was also in the last fiscal that Sogo got into new
alliances for servers and networking division with the likes of Lenovo, Cisco
and HP commercial division.

Distribution is obviously the key to business for Sogo Computers and 40% of
the total business is contributed by distribution. Having adopted an aggressive
upcountry strategy, it that has its operations spread within Karnataka, further
strengthened its presence in B- and C-class cities like Hubli and Bellary. In
the last fiscal alone, ten showrooms were opened in Bangalore with two new ones
opening in Bellary and one in Hubli.

With an increased focus on its PC business like always, Sogo Computers
managed to add on 25 new members to its fold, taking the company's overall
strength to 126. The organization managed its partners well without giving any
room for channel conflict in the last fiscal as well and got into new alliances
with seven new principal partners for various product lines.

With a firm belief in its marketing strengths, the sub-disty increased focus
on its retail business in PCs and attempted at adding on more outlets on this
end. Working the way it did, Sogo seemed to have risen above many an expectation
at least in the PC business. Among the most significant recognitions it got for
its work was the 'Best performance award' from Acer. Incidentally, Sogo
Computers has also been declared as the number one distributor for Acer PCs in
the first quarter this year.