Belgium-based Hans Riet has an enormous task at hand for the India market: to create a noticeable presence for Philips products in the midst of severe competition. Armed with a run-of-the-mill strategy, he hopes to fight the biggies with a mix of premium and entry-level products. Hans, who is also responsible for development in the APac region, is confident of achieving this success with the right product and right pricing.

How do you look at India as a market for your products?
India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, especially the PC market which is growing at tremendous pace. With this the market potential for our products is very encouraging.

What will be your strategy amidst the large number of competing products?
Along with our plan to offer global product range to Indian market one of the most important strategy will be to offer India specific requirements along with our global range. Along with technology our focus will be on value-for-money.

What is Philips Sound Solution's (PSS) USP?
As PSS we are a global company with a strong Indian presence, therefore we are able to leverage our international products and innovations and use them in products that address the needs of the Indian consumers.

What was the reason that PSS kept a low profile in the Indian market for so long?

Right distribution network and the lack of an India specific product range are some of the main reasons for us to keep a low profile for so long.

PSS has been present in the country through Priya for quite sometime now. What is the status of this relation? Have you broken up with Priya?
There is nothing wrong with our tie-up with Priya. It still continues and is perfectly fine.

Then what was the reason behind appointing a Mumbai-based distributor like Neoteric, when you already had Priya in Mumbai?

We wanted somebody with a better product understanding and focus on our products. Not just that, we also wanted to expand our network. Neoteric's experience as a value added distributors and its synergies in growth models are something we were looking for. I am sure Neoteric will do justice to our products.

How is Neoteric different from Priya? Don't you think you have created a competition between two distributors from the same region?
Both have their strengths. Both will complement PSS in expanding the network rather than competiting with each other.

What are the brand promotion activities that you have planned for your products in India?
Philips in the audio segment is a very well known brand in India. For PSS multimedia speakers, especially with the wide range of models ranging from 2.0 to 5.1, we are planning lot of application-based training sessions and awareness programs. Along with this, we will also be getting product reviews done in various trade and end-user medias. Of course, advertisements and sales promotion schemes will also be a part of our branding exercise.

Creative and Altec Lancing has created a niche for itself in terms of positioning it as premium brands with high quality standards. Where do you place PSS products among these two?

The market potential is huge and there is place for every one who has right products at right price. We will compete with Altec and Creative with products from our international range as we do with them in the rest of the world. But next to that we will also bring products that address better the local market's needs in the mainstream segments.

What are the product categories (within speakers - like 2.0, 2.1, etc) that PSS will be focused on? Will there be any unique product categories that will be launched?
Along with traditional 2.0 segment PSS will be focusing on 2.1 and 5.1, which are one of the fastest growing segments. For the multi-channel segment we will also support with a range of high quality internal and external soundcards.

What will be the pricing structure in comparison to the competition? Will it be expensive than Creative and Altec or lower?
We will surely be competitive.

NELSON JOHNY

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