BlackBerry plans to expand in Tier-II, III cities

Buoyed by the growth and in order to tap the potential in Tier-II and Tier-III cities, BlackBerry-maker, Research In Motion(RIM) is planning to strengthen its sales and service network in these cities.

The company is planning to expand its presence and is expecting to make its product available in over 6000 outlets with majority of them in Tier-II and Tier-III cities across the country by the end of this year. It is also planning to expand its product portfolio in 25 new cities in this year. Currently, it is present in 80 cities through 4000 outlets.

Speaking to BusinessStandard, Research in Motion India Pvt Ltd, Senior Director, Channel sales(India), Sanjay Kaul said, “We have appointed Redington India as national distributors for GSM handsets. Also, Brightpoint India has been appointed as National distributors for CDMA and genuine accessories. We are developing and nurturing the retail network. In the past two years, we have seen significant demand coming from Tier-II and Tier-III cities. So we are further strengthening our network. By the end of this year, we would be adding over 2000 outlets in 25 cities.”

On being asked about the demand, “The demand is coming from all quarters. The BBM (Blackberry Messenger Service) is not only a much sought after service by corporates, but even by college students and ladies, especially kitty party members.”

The company is also planning to open 250 more BlackBerry ‘Experience Zones’ across India by this year-end. He added, “These are support stores. Through these Blackberry Experience Zones, the customers are assisted by the retailer where the customers can easily understand the use of BlackBerry products and get to know the propositions of BlackBerry smart-phones vis-a-vis other smart-phones. Presently, we have over 500 such stores across the country. By end of this year, we would probably like to add another 250.”

BlackBerry has taken a unique initiative to educate the retailers, called Channel Execution strategy to assist the prospective customers. He added, “We have taken this initiative to assist the customers, so that they can know about the functions and propositions of BlackBerry products. We have trainers in almost every city where we have presence. These trainers educate the retailers and their salesmen about the product in their stores, so that they can pass the requisite and correct information to the customers. Secondly, during the new production launches they are also imparted class room training. Besides that, we keep on training the promoters of the store and keep them updating about the product.”

He added that the Northern region comprising Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, Rajasthan etc has huge potential for BlackBerry phones, followed by West and South.