Toshiba Looks at 80 Exclusive Franchises Across India

Toshiba India Private Ltd. is planning to embark on an aggressive marketing blitz to drive its laptop business and garner a bigger pie in the Indian market. The move comes even as Toshiba is celebrating the silver jubilee of its laptop invention.

In an interaction with The Hindu, N. Sivakumar, General Manager (PC Division), said Toshiba had lined up an investment of $10 million this year. The money would primarily go into brand building, dealership expansion and strengthening of product portfolio.

He said Toshiba had now a share of four per cent in the Indian laptop market. Efforts were on to scale this up to 12 per cent by the end of this year, he added. With this focus in mind, Toshiba, he said, had decided to expand its dealership network to 850 from the existing 600. This would comprise 80 exclusive franchises who would be hawking only Toshiba products. Also, the company would expand its product offering to 30 models from the current eight.

“We will be offering products in the price range of Rs. 23,000-75,000,” he said. Wu Tengguo, Director (PC Division), said the generation next in India and other emerging markets unfortunately was not aware of Toshiba brand when it came to laptop. Therefore, the challenge lay in spreading the awareness among this segment of the population about Toshiba laptop, he said. In India since mid-1990s, Toshiba laptops were viewed only as commercial products. In this context, Mr. Tengguo pointed out that Toshiba entered the Indian market on the back of a tie-up with HCL for B2B (business to business) sales. With the dynamics of marketing changing drastically, Toshiba had now decided to focus on B2C (business to consumers), he said. The company, he explained, would bring out products to capture new segments. It would also introduce new concept products, he added.

To a specific query, he said the Indian laptop needs were now serviced from Toshiba's plant in China.

Given the low penetration of personal computers in India and given also the size of the laptop market, Mr. Tengguo felt that Toshiba would, in the medium-term, drive its focus on expanding its market share in the Indian B2C space.

Source:The Hindu, Chennai, June 4.

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Xtreme Sports Bar To Open 30 Outlets By 2012

Xtreme Sports Bar (XSB) owned and operated by Hyderabad-based SuryaRay Elixirs Pvt Ltd is planning to operate 30 outlets (both owned and franchise) by end of 2012. Furthermore, the company aims to take the brand overseas in next two years in Europe, Australia and the US. Currently operating in Hyderabad (four outlets), Bengaluru (two outlets), Gurgaon (one outlet), it has recently opened its new outlet in Mumbai. There are plans to have around 10 more XSBs in India by the end of this year. The company is investing Rs 30 crore for its pan India expansion in the next two months.

Speaking exclusively with Hospitality Biz, Ramya Vankina, Chief Marketing Officer, Xtreme Sports Bar said, “With the sports season steaming up in India, the concept of Sports Bar is also emerging with a good pace. We are trying to tap the opportunity at the right time by targeting IPL (Indian Premier League) in cities like Kolkata, Chennai, Jaipur and Chandigarh for our pan India expansion. We are also working at opening additional XSBs in few cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru where the demand is high.” The company is opening one outlet in Vishakhapatnam by this month end, two more outlets in Mumbai, one each in Delhi and Bengaluru by end of this year.

Talking about the marketing strategies, Vankina said, “We will mainly focus on word-of-mouth marketing and try to reach our target audience through niche marketing tactics, which includes advertising in selective publications and cross marketing with sports brand. We also have a strong presence on social networking sites where we interact and take feedback from our members and clients. With increasing number of outlets across the country, we are slowly focusing on print and online media as well.” The bar have loyalty programme – Xtreme MPB (Most Valued Player) card in silver, gold and platinum category which can be used at all XSB across the country. It also sends out monthly newsletter to all its members updating them about their in-house events, rock bands performances, Karaoke nights and sport quizzes.

Tags:Xtreme Sports Bar,Bar franchise,Pub Franchise,Rock Pub Franchise,Sports Bar Franchise,Start A Franchise,Fast Food Franchise,Cafe Franchise