With the year 2008 nearing its end, we at IT Examiner thought it would be nice to take the pulse of the financial city, Mumbai. A not so fruitful year for the PC market gives some hints about customers' preferences.

Decked up in sporty attire that included my green jumpy soles, I headed towards some major electronic shops in the city to find out the best selling PCs of this year. And while finding the best-sellers, I also found out what could possibly be the key to success in India’s PC market.

Going by the trusted brands that people prefer these days for electronics, I hopped inside the Croma store in Malad, and within seconds of seeing the display that included all major PC brands along with exclusive counters for Dell and Apple, I was sure that people still love the HP (Hewlett Packard) logo.

Feroz, the guy who handles, the IT segment, said, "The business has been really awful in the last two weeks, and attributed low sales to the current recession that has held people from spending. However, last Sunday had some magic, as we sold over 33 PCs, which must be due to the Christmas this week, as lot of corporate people opted for laptops as gifts this season. Usually our sales figures double up during weekends."

When asked, of all the brands they displayed, which one does the best, Feroz said, "As you see, we have huge range of notebooks ranging from HP, Acer, Lenovo, Asus, Sony, Zenith, Dell, HCL and Apple.  On an average we sell around five Dell machines, three to four HP and Acer each, two to three Lenovos, two to three Sony Vaios and Compaq machines each, one to three HCL machines, every day, with Apple’s Mac machines accounting to six to seven machines every week."

“Indian buyers are not brand-savvy. They hunt for good configuration at best prices, that's the reason why HP and Acer do so well. One can have a configuration of 250GB HD, 3GB RAM, 2GHz processor speed in HP and Acer machine, with price ranging between $921.7 - $983.3 (Rs 45,000-48,000). Whereas, same configuration will cost $2,048 (Rs100,000) if one needs to buy a Sony or a Mac Machine," said Feroz.

If that is the case, then why isn’t Dell topping the charts, as it gives the choice to configure on your own? "Yes, Dell is doing good business, but since its display is new, earlier, one could avail it only online. It will take time before the brand gets registered as a dependable machine in the eyes of customers, at present they trust HP because of its after sales support and as it is also cheaper in terms of cost compared with Dell," Feroz answered.

"Also, bundled offers interest customers. During Diwali season, we sold as many as 25 Lenovo machines everyday, as the purchase came in hand with a seven mega pixel Optima camera, worth Rs7,000 on every purchase of Lenovo  Y430," said Feroz. Acer’s 18.5-inch Aspire, that costs $819.4 (Rs 40,000) also did remarkably well as it was bundled with PS2 gaming machine during the festive season. HP also had a camera offer, but it was online, wherein customers have to register online to avail the offer. The offer is still on."

Apple’s Mac machine has not been able to establish itself as a mass seller, as people still find it expensive, believe it is exclusively for design purposes and there is a prevailing myth that one cannot use Windows with Mac. "People mostly from media background who require to edit videos and design opt for Mac. We don’t sell much of Mac from our Malad store as this store pulls more of local crowd. At our other store in Juhu, that surrounds a lot of editing studios, Apple is doing good business and sells 12 machines every week," said Feroz.

An Apple user, who must have mistaken me for a buyer, showed his willingness to discuss the Mac, and said, "Before using Mac, even I thought it will not be easy to use this machine as it is very different. But now I find it the easiest machine to use. It teaches something new every day, and with the application store you can have free updates on a daily basis. The new Mac machines, though priced little higher than previous machines, have LED display, which is thinner and provides better display. The weight of the new machine is lighter and the base is made out of single sheet that gives it a vibrant look. If you see the resolution of its VGA camera you will confuse it with a three megapixel camera. One can even install Windows on this machine and the biggest advantage is, it's virus free."

Feroz, the salesperson, nodded in agreement, but said the price factor will still play on the minds of consumers and will obstruct them from buying Macs for now.

However, in an exclusive Apple store, when asked for sales figures per day, the store head declined to comment - but the knowledgeable guard said softly, "The business is pretty down, lot of commoners come inquire rates and leave. But since Mumbai is a media and Bollywood hub, lot of editors and media personnel place handsome orders. By and large we have been able to sell some seven machines a day."

Talking about the trends of 2008, Feroz said, "This year, there has been a major shift from desktops to laptops - no longer people wish to buy desktops, as with little more money they can buy a product that will provide them mobility and high handiness."

Sujit Sharma, who recently bought an Acer laptop, said, "My requirement was not of a laptop, I am not a MBA student, who requires flanking a laptop. My need was of a desktop, but seeing the marginal difference between a mid range configured laptop and high end desktop, I opted for a laptop, which is handy, and can be brought to use anywhere and everywhere."

When asked about the market for high end gaming machines, Feroz said, "It is not doing good business in India, the price sensitive buyers can get a high-end machine configuration for $1,024 -$1228 (Rs 50,000-Rs 60,000) and can play pirated games on it, which comes as cheap as Rs 100, so why will he spend a bomb on Dell’s gaming laptop XPS M 1730? Usage of pirated software is one of the reasons customers don’t prefer going for Mac machines."

To know more about the existing trends, I went to Hyper City, a supermarket that offers all major brands. Amit Jha, a sales representative at the store, was keen to give me an insight. He said, "The market has been pretty low since May. We have all major brands and will soon have an Apple counter. This year HP and Acer have made the maximum out of the PC market." Amit also attributed the high sales of these two brands to the affordable price range they offer.

He said, "Who would buy a Sony and pay over $2,048 (Rs 100,000) for a configuration that can be bought for almost half the price if he opts for HP, Lenovo, Acer?"
Feroz at the Croma store suggested that the laptops priced between $716.60 and $819 (Rs 35,000 and Rs 40,000) are most preferred among customers.

One of the punters at the store suggested that those who aren't of the conspicuous consumption persuasion should buy a model six months after its launch, as the prices drop considerably during this period, and it also gives a chance to see how good or bad a machine is. X