Being a Lenovo Exclusive Store, Acme Infocom witnesses a significant rise in the retail business

Fundamentally being a Lenovo Exclusive Store, Acme Infocom sells a variety of Lenovo Laptops, Desktops, Tablets, and Monitors. With a customer base of end-users, Corporates and walk-in customers Acme Infocom has faced a lot of challenges during the Covid period. The company has witnessed a shift in consumers’ choices from the pre-covid to post-covid era. As the retail business is flourishing, Acme Infocom plans to open a few more Exclusive Stores in the coming years. In a chat with VARINDIA, Somesh Narag, Director, Acme Infocom Private Limited states about their business model, the challenges faced by them, the growth opportunities, Lenovo’s contribution in their growth, customer’s trend etc.

Brief about the company
We started our business in 1993 as a distribution house dealing in Intel CPU, Motherboards, Hard Disks and Peripherals. In the year 2010 we diversified into retail and opened a first retail outlet. We also included Lenovo as part of our retail outlets in the year 2014 and now operate in Nehru place as a Lenovo Exclusive Store.

Briefly explain the business model. What are the growth opportunities to be seen in the near future?
Acme Infocom is essentially a Lenovo Exclusive Store that sells a variety of Lenovo Laptops, Desktops, Tablets, and Monitors. Our customer base includes end-users, Corporates and walk-in customers. Despite the competition from the online platform, the retail business has been booming. Hence, we also plan to open a few more Exclusive Stores in the years to come.

How has the business grown and what has been Lenovo’s contribution to the business growth?
The online retailers have posed a challenge for us in terms of growth, in the last two years. Another roadblock was the shortage of products during the pandemic wave. We faced the problem of the demand being higher than what we could supply. However, being a Lenovo Exclusive Store now, all our sales and growth is Lenovo oriented.

What is the most preferred brand/product by the customers? Mention any customer trends in the last few months.

The end users tend to compare between various brands before making any purchase decisions. We have also seen a significant rise in demand for gaming and sub-gaming laptops. The need for laptops with graphics cards, high capacity SSD storage and higher RAM (memory) is the need of the hour. Even the lower end segment of our customers is now asking for SSD storage in their PCs and laptops.

How challenges have been tackled post the COVID-19 pandemic? What is the difference during this time?
The biggest challenge we faced was in the supply chain management, which was highly affected by the pandemic. We took the initiative of personally calling our regular buyers and started making our deliveries via the functioning courier services during the lockdown. We also provided the customers who reached out to us for assistance, with complete end-to-end support in terms of delivery and educating them over the phone. 

What are the trends to look out for in the technology segment?
Our consumers have been asking for higher versions of graphic cards, new generation CPUs and SSD Drives. Gaming devices are also preferred in the Consumer Segment along with other lightweight laptops. 

What are the consumers’ changes driven by technology? 
The main changes that have been driven by technology include the need for SSD storage and higher RAM capacity. Majority of our customers also now prefer light weight laptops.