The Pune-based distributor, Soham Group, deals in mobile phones of leading brands like Oppo, Moto, LG and Tecno. As a distributor, Soham covers Pune and Ahmednagar regions for Oppo, Moto and Tecno brands; and covers whole of Maharashtra for LG brand mobile phones. Soham launched their own brand of LED TVs–Anuron TV–in May 2019. In an interaction with Mobility magazine, Narendra S Firodia, Chairman, Soham Group, shares his company’s outlook, policies and strategy.
Mr Firodia shares, “Oppo is a growing aspirational brand for today’s millenials which has successfully maintained its position among the top 5 brands in the Indian market and it is selling very well. The Moto, Tecno & LG brands are doing very well. The biggest challenge that a distributor faces today is the credit that has to be given to the retailers which varies from brand to brand but is between 15-40 days. This is delaying returns from the market and causing working capital problems for the distributors.”
Talking about their promotion and marketing strategies, Mr Firodia adds, “We have made an Experience Zone on wheels—a traveller van that moves to different locations and gives demos to the customers on our products including our LED TVs. This is the first-of-its-kind in our region. We are also working aggressively on the digital platforms to promote our Anuron TV brand. We are providing one year replacement warranty and also we have the policy of on-site repairs. We will expand our service network across all major cities in the regions wherever we are operating.”
In resolving traders’ issues with government bodies and in giving moral support and motivation to traders, the trade associations play a leading role. The AIMDA (All India Mobile Dealers Association) is playing a leading role in this regard. Mr Firodia is an active member of AIMDA.
In this regard, Mr Firodia comments, “The AIMDA has been a very useful and effective platform through which traders and partners are able to collectively tackle the issues related to mobiles industry. But still there is a lot to be done like getting the association registered with a governing body; expanding its reach and scope; and motivating the members to actively take part in the association’s activities. We are working sincerely on these matters and hope AIMDA will grow into a powerful association to assist the mobility industry partners.”
Elaborating on the progress of their own LED TV brand, Anuron TV, Mr Firodia comments, “Though we have launched Anuron TV only a few months back (in May 2019), we are getting very encouraging response from the market and now we are in the process of appointing new distributors pan-India and establishing our channel network. And once our distribution network is ready, we will promote the brand on pan-India basis more aggressively. Our strategy for Anuron is focused on providing the high quality TVs–we are using the top quality HD IPS panels that are manufactured following the best-in-class quality controls and standards. We use metallic back-covers for better picture quality; high quality PCBA and components; and quality speakers to give superior sound experience to users.”
Talking about their future plans, Mr Firodia states, “We want to establish our Anuron TV brand pan-India and we plan to introduce the latest technologies while developing new models. We also want to enter the IoT and home automation space in the coming years.”