Chennai-based IT logistics solutions firm Redington (India), a major distributor of Apple products in the country, says that even if the American computer major appoints one more distributor for its enterprise solutions, it will not have a negative or detrimental effect on Redington. The comment follows reports that Apple is in talks with HCL Info to increase its distribution in India.
The company says that according to information from the public domain, it understand that there is a discussion going on, and that a non-disclosure agreement has been signed and an RFP (request for proposal) floated, but this is essentially for the enterprise business. HCL had participated in the RFP and the commercial terms are still under discussion, Redington claimed.
"....but our own view is that Redington is extremely well positioned with regard to distribution of iPhones both in the general trade, which is where we participate, as also the enterprise space...," said Raj Shankar, managing director, Redington (India) Ltd.
"...I must mention here the enterprise portion of the business is about 10-15 per cent, so even if there is an addition of another distributor it is still going to be within this 10-15 per cent pie and therefore to that extent, the 85-90 per cent will continue to be addressed by existing distributors. So it will not have any negative or detrimental impact to Redington," he added in a recent interaction with analysts.
Apple is among the five largest contributors to Redington's business, and its share in Redington's revenues grew to 25 per cent during the first quarter ended June 30, as against 22 per cent during the corresponding quarter last year.
Apple had, in 2015, added BrighStar as a distributor in India and realigned its distribution network on geographic basis in the country. Even at that time, Redington had said that the development did not have a major impact in its business. Apple has four partners in the country at present, including Redington, Ingram Micro, Rashi Peripherals and Brightstar, according to reports. Redington has also been getting into tie-ups with various other brands and recently said that it has started seeing growth in the non-Apple smartphone business.
The company, in its annual report for 2016-17, said that the growth in the non-Apple smartpjhone segment was 39 per cent, whjich is a clear indication that the other brands in its portfolio had started contributing significantly to the growth. The company, which began developing a portfolio of non-IT products in 2006, has tied up with BlackBerry as a national distributor for both retail and channel distribution of 'unlocked' BlackBerry phones at a time when it was only sold as locked form through telecom operators.
Later, it tied up with Apple for pan-India distribution of iPhones in 2012, according to analyst reports. Besides Apple, the company has distribution tie-ups with Google Pixel, Samsung, Xiaomi and Asus. It also has selling Apple's lifestyle products, and bagged a distribution agreement for selling iPhones in Saudi Arabia in FY17, in addition to UAE and Africa.