Lenovo eyes top slot in PC market in next 2 years

Chinese tech firm Lenovo aims to grab the top slot in the consumer PC business in the country in the next two years, a top company official has said.

"We are looking at 20 per cent growth year on year. Our aim is to be number one brand from number three. In PCs and tablets we want to get to the number one position in India in the next two years time," Lenovo India Executive Director Business and Ecommerce Rajesh Thadani told PTI recently.

The consumer PC market in India has been relatively flat over the past few quarters and the company is betting big on the emerging formats like gaming, convertible, thin and light to drive sales.

"The overall PC market could be flat but the emerging form factors like gaming, thin and light, convertible seem to be growing exponentially at more than 100 per cent. The traditional laptops are flattish. We expect that the next level of PC growth will happen through these emerging form factors," he said.

The overall PC market in the country is estimated to be 4 million, with 3 million notebooks and 1 million desktop. The emerging form factors contribute around 10 per cent of the PC market and Lenovo expects it to double in the next year.

The company is making these products at an affordable rate and for its thin and light product, the incremental cost from a traditional notebook is 15 per cent, compared to 30-40 per cent in the past.

"We are bridging the gap to drive customer needs," he said.

Lenovo aims to capture over 20 per cent market share in the premium space that is estimated to be 12-13 per cent of the total PC market.

"We want to grow our share and double up the premium space. We want to be at least over 20 per cent share in premium. Our share currently is about 14-14.5 per cent," Thadani said.

To increase its retail footprint the company plans to add 100 exclusive stores this year.

"We have over 600 exclusive stores across the country. We are looking at adding 100 more stores this year and would be targeted more at tier I and tier II cities," he said.

Tier I and II cities contribute around 60-65 per cent of the company's sales at present.

The online channel accounts for 15-18 per cent of its sales and to manage online and offline, the company has differentiated products and different brand series. Almost 90 per cent of portfolio offered online is differentiated products.