AIMRA Dakshin has conducted their summit in Kolkata at Club VERDE VISTA on Jan 21, 2020. The theme of the Panel Discussion was ‘WE ARE IN THE SAME BOAT BROTHER.’ The association committee members spoke on different issues affecting the mobile partners and how the association is working to sort them. The event included a Panel Discussion.
Panelists: Mohan Bajoria (Moderator); Ayan Bhattacharya, Director – Sales, WB Oppo; Bhaskar Sengupta, RSM, Vivo; Bidish Chatterjee, RSM, LG; Vinay Dixit, President – Bengal Tiger; Ravi Gupta, State Player; Sourav Bhattacharya – KTDA.
The discussion also deliberated on the question of how to meet the challenges, how the mobile partners can survive, thrive and how they can secure their future; and the trends in mobile technologies and services and how partners can profit in the market conditions.
“ONLINE VERSUS OFFLINE CRISIS TURNS CRITICAL! This actually had to do with the ongoing crisis in a major section of the Telecom industry that has to with the selling of electronic items including smart phones. The need of the hour was for everyone offline player to stay united and follow a well-crafted strategy to seek protective measures. Indeed, if those online announce ridiculous discounts etc., how can those offline stay in business? Retailers, Distributors and Company representatives were all there. The seven panelists spoke with passion. The Moderator, Mr. Mohan Bajoria, did an enviable job under unenviable circumstances. For him, no praise would be enough. I had all my sympathy and support for those struggling offline,” commented Utpal Chatterjee, a leading Journalist, Public Speaker, and Ex Kolkata Sheriff, who was one of the distinguished guests at the event.
The discussion highlighted the importance of adding value to mobile products and services partners offer to the customers. The days of consumers coming searching for the sellers are gone, and now the trend is the sellers should find ways to reach out to the customers by offering them more value added services and win their confidence.
Next, the online business can never overrun the offline channel and the later will have its own niche. However, the need of the hour is that the offline channel should be prepared to perform alongside the online channel by offering better customer service and value additions which online cannot offer. That is the only way to face competition.
The discussion also focused on the role of associations and how they can and should help the vendors and channel partners to resolve the issues in a way that will benefit both and will ensure all will thrive and prosper. They also mentioned the achievements of AIMRA so far and their future agenda.
Mridul Biswas, President, AIMRA Dakshin, commented, “I am glad to see you all here and thank you all for coming here to make the event grand and purposeful. This is our 2nd Edition of AIMRA Dakshin meet; the purpose of this event is to bring all the distributors and partners under one umbrella and sort out the issues in a way that will place all of us in a Win-Win situation. I request all of you not to lose confidence and the offline channel is here to stay and flourish. If we fight for our interests with unity and determination, we can definitely win. The present issues and market downturn are only temporary and the situation will improve soon. I am delighted to see the interest in the partner community to come all the way to attend this event and I hope to see the same zeal for our coming events. We will have more such events in the future. ‘WE ARE ALL IN THE SAME BOAT BROTHER’ let us fight together and win.”