PCS plans 100 retail outlets

After HCL and Zenith, its now the turn of PCS to get onto the retail
bandwagon. The company plans to make its presence felt across nearly 100 retail
outlets by the end of this year. Though these won’t be exclusive PCS outlets,
it would be the only Indian brand to be sold alongside other MNC brands. Says
Arun Bhattacharya, Country Manager-Channels, "Retailing is going to be the
next in-thing for the PC business and we want to enhance our presence in the
retail segment."

Presently PCS has retail outlets only in Mumbai and Bangalore. "We are
targeting more B, C and D-class cities for our retail initiatives as metro
markets have become highly competitive," he adds. According to Arun, by
increasing its reach into B, C and D-class cities, PCS would be able to able to
meet its targets for the current fiscal.

The company is also looking at expanding its channel network and would be
targeting government and educational segments more aggressively. It also expects
co-operative banks to be another segment where it can get good business from.
"We are looking at dealers who already have good relationships in these
segments," says Arun. He feels that educational institutions and government
organizations are increasingly getting IT-enabled and PC demand from these
sectors is bound to pick up.

PCS is also planning to launch a range of new products. This would include
laptops and LCD monitors. It is also in the process of setting up a new
manufacturing base in Goa. At present it has a PC manufacturing facility at
Silvassa.

GOLDIE, MUMBAI