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How is Xerox India focusing on channel partners for expansion into the
upcountry market?
The implementation of a two-tier distribution model at the beginning of 2005
was part of the initiative to create a demand and awareness of the Xerox brand.
The company needed to change the perception of being just a photocopying company
to one dealing with a whole range of IT products. Office products other than
copiers now constitute about 70% of our total sales revenue. As such, we are now
targeting SMBs, large enterprises, and home consumers.
We are driving these products through national distributors such as Ingram
Micro and Redington for equipment and eSys for supplies. In addition, Xerox is
focusing on two regional distributors, MicroMax and Ansata Computers. This
should help us expand our channel base from the current 1,000, especially in the
upcountry market. Bills are raised through Tier II partners, comprising 160
exclusive mono brand Xerox partners, while the rest are handled by multi brand
Xerox partners. While channel sales managers handle the multi brand partners, 25
business development managers have been assigned to work with the mono brand
partners.
Service and support has been Xerox's Achilles heel. How are you taking
care of this?
In addition to the alliance with Accel ICIM as a third-party service
provider, Xerox has strengthened its service support through our own branch
offices in 80 locations and 11 regional offices. We also have a one-man team in
11 additional towns to work closely with the channel. For our hi-end copier
range, we have 80 authorized service providers. We also offer extended service
packages to customers, but only through the channel. Typically, a warranty
package is restrictive as it might offer either onsite or offsite repair or it
might have a turnaround time, which might not be acceptable to certain
customers. Customers who have these specific service needs can get customized
warranty packages from the channel partners who provide the printing solutions
to them. We have 17 partners who offer these kinds of outsourced printing
services.
What are the initiatives taken by Xerox on the retail front?
Xerox will open an exclusive concept showroom in Bangalore, which will
showcase our full product range of 60-odd products in a live environment. The
showroom is a 70:30 joint venture between our Bangalore-based partner Bijirom,
with 70% contribution from Xerox.
Rajneesh De
rajneeshd@cybermedia.co.in Page(s) 1
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