HCL eyes double digit share of laptop market

Despite the overall slowdown in the sale of laptops during the last quarter, HCL Infosystems, the $3 billion (Rs 12,604 crore) hardware business of HCL Enterprise, is eyeing to corner a double digit market share in the laptop segment in India in the next 18 months. The company, which has a market share of 7.34 per cent in the laptop segment in India, presently stands at fifth position.

“The drop in the sales of laptops in India in the last quarter, is a temporary phenomenon. We attribute that to the increasing difference in costs between the desktops and laptops, especially due to the rise in dollar value. We are confident of garnering a double digit market share in the laptop segment in India in the next 18 months,” George Paul, executive vice president, Marketing HCL Infosystems said.

Due to the escalating dollar value, the price difference between a desktop and laptop has gone up from about Rs 10,000 to about 12,000-13,000 in the last quarter which forced many home consumers to go for desktops instead of laptop.

HCL which is leading the desktop market in India entered the laptop segment almost three years ago and is the fifth largest laptop seller in the country today.

According to the company, the consumer market consists of roughly about 30 per cent of its PC sales, while the rest is being contributed by the enterprise segment. Within the enterprise market, 30 per cent of its sales comes from government and another 30 per cent from BFSI sector.

Paul said the company has not seen much of an impact from the recent global economic downturn which has forced enterprises to cut their IT budgets. “We expect a slowdown from the IT/ITeS sector that have been primarily impacted due to the slowdown in the US economy. However, it contributes a small portion to our total sales. Most of our sales are to Indian enterprises and government,” he said.

The company on Friday launched a new range of laptops under ‘Leaptop Series 39’. The laptops are designed for Indian climatic conditions, where the ambient temperatures are higher and the surface temperature of laptops tend to become uncomfortable. The HCL ‘Leaptop Series 39’ is designed to achieve a lower temperature differential of below six degrees on its palm rest surfaces, said the company.

Paul said the launch of these products are part of the strategy to garner a bigger market share in India. “This is one of the very clear strategies for having a product specifically designed for India. A good number of laptops in our context is going to be used in the non-AC environment or in home environment. Besides, we are bundling strategy for a consumer products by making laptops a personal music organiser.”

HCL is also planning to sharpen its retail strategy as part of which the company intends to increase the number of its digital lifestyle store from 73 to about 150 in the next 18 months. Paul said this will be a combination of both the HCL-owned stores and franchisee outlets.

Besides, the company is also planning to reduce the prices of the laptops further by using more indigenous components. Presently, most of the sub-systems used in HCL laptops are developed by OEMs located in different parts of the world including Israel and the US.

“Going ahead, we will be working on increasing the use of indigenous components in laptops, in the same way what we have done in the case of desktops,” he pointed out.