TAIT hosts "Market Adda" on "How to Survive the Competitive Online Market"

The Trade Association of Information Technology (TAIT) hosted an insightful panel discussion as part of their “Market Adda” initiative. The event brought together industry veterans from across the IT ecosystem, to discuss and share insights on how IT retailers and traders can survive the competitive online marketplace and evolve their business. The event was a major success, with members passionately participating in Q&A’s and engaging with speakers post the event.

With e-commerce marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart announcing mega sale ahead of the festive season, the panel discussion was hosted by TAIT at a strategic time. With the competitive online marketplaces offering huge discounts, fear of losing out business and most of all, becoming eventually irrelevant, were some of the genuine questions that the “Market Adda” addressed through the panel discussion.

The panel discussion began with the introduction of the stellar set of speakers, namely Rakesh Shah, Director, Best IT World, India (Director, i-Ball); Dushyant Mehta, Mediaman Infotech Pvt. Ltd (A prominent personality in the IT Channel industry); Gurbir Singh Bhatia, Prime A B G B Pvt. Ltd; Shrenik Shah, Options Computers; and Devendra Sayani, D. C. Infotech. The discussion, expertly moderated by Devang Thakore, touched upon multiple facets of online Vs traditional business models, including weather online, really is a threat or an opportunity?; How can a traditional business survive in this environment?; Do we need a transition?; What skillsets/ tools training is required to equip oneself for the virtual marketplace?; and lastly, Is E-commerce/ M-commerce the way forward? Discussing these questions, the panellists gave elaborate and insightful observations and guided the members as to how they can proceed to survive and thrive in the current scenario. The key takeaways from the session were:

Seek Opportunity: E-commerce and the virtual marketplace is here to stay and members need to learn to see the opportunity in the platform, instead of viewing it as a threat

Add Value: It is important for traditional businesses to add value to their customers who have remained loyal to them. Hence, traditional business in the era of online marketplaces needs to adopt a service-oriented approach that offers the customers a superior understanding and positive interaction opportunities apart from the prompt response and several other value additions

Focus on a Niche: While conducting business in the traditional format, it will be beneficial for SI’s and traders to identify niche products and service that are NOT available online and create a strong positioning in that area. While e-commerce is growing stronger day by day, it currently only accounts for about 20% total IT sale, translating into a huge opportunity to create a strong offline presence with niche products

Have an online identity: Lastly, with online transactions practically taking over every aspect of our lives and the next generation literally growing up with a “digital” aptitude, e-marketplaces are bound to grow and flourish. For traditional businesses, it thus important to remain relevant by creating a basic online identity to ensure the presentation is recorded. A more adventurous set of traders many even try creating a standalone e-commerce platform for selling their own niche products and services, thus leveraging the “digital” as a gen-next opportunity

Sameer Parekh, President, TAIT, said, “This was yet another event organized with the objective of assisting the growth of the member organisations, and I am happy to have received a good response from all members. The tips shared by IT Trade leaders, who are known and followed for their wisdom on the subject, are immensely helpful and I am sure all members would benefit from these.”

Further, each panellist shared a distinct message for members on the one thing they need to focus on, above all else, to remain relevant and successful in their business.

The insightful discussion ended on a high note and was followed by an equally engaging LaunchPad Pro Session by Nikesh Jain, Director, NeoSoft – a premier trading enterprise for computer peripherals and accessories. Highlighting his 17-year-long association with the IT trade industry, Nikesh shared his heartfelt gratitude to all the members and went ahead to showcase the latest range of Cabinets, mouse, keyboards and other peripherals and Computer speakers. His aesthetic and reasonably priced products were well received and appreciated.