HCL facing challenge in the laptop market

ByAditya Chaturvedi

Nikita BahetiNikita Sapra

Priyanka DwivediTeena BansalShradha SethiVarun Kumar

Market research includes:

• Identify research•Literature research•Research methodologyi. Research designii. Samplingiii. Data collection method• Data analysis• Findings

Defining research

How to consolidate their position in the laptop space and to build its laptop sales in 2010-11 to survive the major structural changes that were taking place in the rapidly growing Indian computer marketplace

Literature research•HCL’s business in desktop market•Consumer behavior•Marketing strategies of hcl

Research methodology•Research design:

Exploratory research and qualitative research used Since there is no specific course of action. The objective of this research is to analyze the market for the popularity of HCL laptops

Sampling•Probability sampling is usedSample size :100

Stratified samples are taken Two samples made one of retailers and

another of customers of sample size 50

Data collection methodTypes of data being collected

Primary data through structured questionnaire

Secondary data through company and internal reports,government records like IMRB,VIKALPA,Advertising agencies

Data collection techniques

•Observations•Interviews•Documents and reports•Audio visual materials

Data analysis

• Percentage of customers using particular brand of laptop

Reasons for low popularity

• Limited portfolio• old-fashioned practices,• problems of spending on

marketing and communication compared to its multinational rivals

HP29%

DELL24%

HCL ME11%

LENEVO13%

SONY VAIO8%

OTHERS15%

Sales

Reasons to choose particular brand 

Analysis

• People gives more preference to good service when buying laptops

• Faster delivery is a low-cost (for HCL) but high-value (for consumer) proposition.

• HCL can offer over Dell is a quicker delivery time of the finished product using local manufacturer

Percentage showing most popular brand

• HCL, being a company with strong functional credibility, is quite unsuccessful in the laptop category, because each and every competitor is constantly trying to compete

• The company cannot reap expected profits out of its strong market position as the category is highly commoditized

Percentage showing better after sales service 

• Laptops are purchased more on brand image, style, and entertainment than mere functionalities and durability

• If HCL can assure the delivery in a week or ten days against Dell’s three to four weeks lead time, this will definitely become a strong decision making criteria in favour of HCL.

• To fight with the prominent player, Dell, HCL needs to play in the platform of Service Differentiation

Observations •Dell, in spite of doubling its ad spend and

higher saliency of ad spends, lost market share in 2009.

•  Lenovo, in spite of reduced ad spends, gained 1.3 per cent share

•Laptops have a better acceptance and are growing faster in the metros

•HCL is struggling on ROM and the multiplier and is certainly not among the front-runners

Findings•HCL is growing at a healthy rate in the

laptop segment but has not been able to leverage the network for laptops.

•MNC brands like HP and dell have a wider range in the valuefor-money entry-level laptops with more variants, as well as being perceived better on quality

•Both Acer and Dell have a wide product portfolio in the entry-level segment

Recommendations • It is apparent from the Case that the future scope for laptops lies in

the top 4 cities (which grew by 73%) followed by the rest of India (48%); hence HCL should focus primarily on these geographies.

• HCL should use its strong desktop distribution infrastructure to increase its laptop distribution width in traditional channels

• It needs to consistently appeal to the youth with new design variants so as to build a strong pull

• HCL needs to make sharp choices between investing in R&D, design, product portfolio, innovation