E-marketing increases overseas orders for SMEs in Coimbatore

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in and around Coimbatore have said they are witnessing a sharp rise in job orders from overseas customers. A cross-section of industry representatives have said this was mainly due to the adoption of e-marketing, which they took up as a cost-control measure during the global financial crisis.

The initiative has not only started bringing down marketing costs, but also increased job orders from overseas customers.

Coimbatore houses over 50,000 SMEs and micro units mainly in the engineering sector, including automotive components, textile machinery and pumps, among others.

J James, district president of Tamil Nadu Association of Cottage and Micro Enterprises (TACT), said during the financial crisis the units started looking at various cost-cutting initiatives to make their products more competitive.

“What we thought would be a cost-cutting measure — adoption of e-marketing — has yielded more profits,” said James.

According to the association 15 per cent of the units in Coimbatore now have their own websites, which has helped the industry to report 10-15 per cent growth in job orders from overseas customers.

K Raja, who runs an engineering unit in Coimbatore, said, “Overseas customers are paying 50 per cent more compared to domestic customers for job orders.” Raja, who started his company’s website in December 2009, secured a job order for the first time from a German customer in January this year.

“It is important to get your business noticed by selling in various marketplaces. The Internet is the right mode at a relatively low cost. By spending time creating effective content and building links, you can gain valuable traffic,” said Raja.

M Saravanakumar, who owns Coimbatore-based Auto Engineering Works (a company that develops valves), said 40 per cent of the orders for his unit was from overseas customers and he was planning to accept only these orders in the next one or two months.

“Orders are pouring in, and since I am not able to take up all of them I am passing on some to my colleagues in the industry,” said Saravanakumar, who also uses e-marketing successfully.

Saravanakumar recently added five machines in his unit, costing Rs 26 lakh each. “I can pay the bank loan in three years by taking up orders from overseas customers,” he said, adding that profit margins in the domestic market were a fraction of those on foreign orders.

E-marketing gives businesses global reach, lower cost, measurable results and personalisation, and makes possible creation of interactive campaigns and ease of purchase, which adds value for the customer and improves the organisation’s marketing effectiveness, according to marketing experts.

They added that this would enable SMEs to perform as efficiently as large businesses in the global market.