The Indian printing industry has maintained quite sustainable growth in the past few years and the overall scenario is pointing at a much faster growth in the coming years. There are some product segments that are aiding the market with robust support and also helping the vendors to bring more innovative industrial printers. Konica Minolta is one of the market players that cater to the large customer base across the Indian market with its industry-leading printers. In an exclusive conversation with Mr. Kuldeep Malhotra, Vice President-Sales, Konica Minolta Business Solutions India Pvt. Ltd., we got to know about their overall growth, current market share and their set target by 2022.
DT: How has been the growth of Konica Minolta during the FY 2018-19?
Mr. Kuldeep: We closed the year with 693 crores revenue which is really close to the target which we had set earlier. We have shown a growth of over 18% last year which is really an excellent growth as per the overall IT industry. We are able to maintain double-digit growth since last 7 to 8 years. We have reached a level now when we can say yes, we can achieve 1000 crores revenue by 2022. This is our target currently and we are on the road with all product plans to achieve this goal by the deadline.
DT: Please brief about the market shares of your different segments.
Mr. Kuldeep: When I look at the production business, we are able to maintain our leadership with more than 50% market share. While in the office products market segment, we are able to manage between 15-16% overall market share and for the color market, we are able to manage 20% market share.
DT: How do you manage to maintain your leadership position?
Mr. Kuldeep: There are few points that help any organization to achieve its goals. One is the right strategy, you need to look at what market demands. If you are able to deliver that to the market, the market will accept and you will be able to achieve what you want to achieve. Second is the customers' expectation and satisfaction level. Focusing on the after-sale support holds the key for any brand to succeed. Happy customers ultimately help the business to grow further. The third is bringing the right technology for the Indian market, which is easy to use, flexible and cost-effective as well. And the last one is your resources whether it is your direct team or whether it is your partner, if you have the right set of people, you can achieve whatever you want to achieve. We have the right set of people, the right set of partners, right products and best after-sale support so we have been able to maintain our leadership.
DT: What message do you want to convey to your core team?
Mr. Kuldeep: My message to my team is that the customer is very important for all of us to grow. We used to listen that "the customer is god", which is really true. This applies on any industry as if customer doesn't buy, how will you grow, if the customer is not satisfied, how will you grow if your product is not meeting customer's expectations. So my message to my team is, offer the right product and right solution to the customer. First, understand what the customer wants and then offer him the product.
DT: How do you take care of the service support for your loyal customers?
Mr. Kuldeep: We have more than 250 direct engineers and they are operating from 82 locations so we are ready to help the customers everywhere. Besides this, we are giving new technologies to the customers, we have launched the mobile app where customers can login their complaints from his mobile. He doesn't have to call at our call center as we have invested a lot in building this digital platform to give them a better experience. Now even our engineers are very much empowered with this initiative as they can update their call closure from their mobile. We have satisfied customers' base of over 96% which is a benchmark for any industry.
DT: What kind of support you receive from your channel partners?
Mr. Kuldeep: For office business, channel is our strength. Our 95% business for office products is executed by channel only. When we look at the PAN India base, we have almost 150+ partners who are selling the office product line. These partners have their own set of people for sales and service. If we count overall head count in this ecosystem, we have a force of more than 1000 people who are selling and servicing the office product line.
DT: How do you support and motivate the channel community?
Mr. Kuldeep: We extend all possible support to our partners and we make sure all resources are easily accessible to them. We keep on launching very innovative schemes for our partners and their resellers as well. Partners are very happy the way we work together. We take them on overseas trips twice a year. If they achieve the set targets then we honor them with incentives as well. They are not just business partners for us, they are like our family and we truly respect this special bonding.
DT: How do you educate your channel partners?
Mr. Kuldeep: Education and training are a very important part of our channel program. These are part of our routine job and we have a fixed calendar every month to boost product awareness and educate them. We keep on updating our partners in advance about all such training programs. They send their sales or service guy for training and we have an excellent team that provides sales and service training every month.
DT: What is your roadmap to grow in the coming years in India?
Mr. Kuldeep: We will be further growing more through the industrial product line because they are the high-value ticket products and these are the markets that will be growing at a good pace. While moving ahead, India will be manufacturing hub and we would need more packaging and printing solutions across all verticals. Considering this huge potential, we are already having updated and advanced printing solutions to cater to huge emerging demands in the near future.
