Hewlett Packard (HP) has been grappling with a number of challenges in India including the right media mix, timely product launches and a falling market share in the laptop category. Ranjivjit Singh, chief marketing officer, Personal Systems Group (PSG), HP India, is now spearheading a multi-pronged strategy to overcome these challenges and bring the brand closer to the youth. In an interview with Rohit Nautiyal of FE, Singh shares his vision for the company. Edited excerpts.
Hewlett Packard has always been known as a serious IT brand. Do you think there is a need to be seen as a more cool and youth-oriented brand?
Being the largest technology company in the world, it is very important for us to appeal to the youth. We have new strategies in terms of multiple devices that will map consumer needs when they are on the move, at home or at the workplace. Because of their simplicity, devices are becoming a crucial part of e-governance in projects like Aadhaar and other voting-related work. HP is well positioned in the enterprise space with data centres, clouds and also brings devices that seamlessly work with these. While five years ago, personal computer was at the centre of the world, today with better devices, people’s trust in technology has increased by leaps and bounds. There is a need to integrate different user requirements and we, as a technology company, will continue to address these.
Today’s youth not only believe in creating an identity through what they own but like to make noise about this too. We are living in the age of ‘prosumers’. It’s the story of every professional consumer who will lead innovation in the future. HP will adopt these innovations and give it back to the prosumers through its products. Mobility is the key driver of this new culture as people do many things at the same time, such as listening to music, creating content and sharing. Our products strive to address the ever-changing demands of the prosumer. For instance, with HP SimplePass software and integrated fingerprint reader in Pavilion dv6 (a laptop), users can protect their personal information and simplify password management.
Is PC a dying market in India? What is its significance in a universe dominated by laptops, tablets and smartphones?
PCs are here to stay. While mobile phone penetration in India stands at 60%, PC penetration is as low as 5%. Still, it is a growing market and a lot of PC adoption is yet to be witnessed here. Currently, there are two user scenarios in this space: first is small and medium businesses that use PCs and desktops to bring down their operational costs. BPOs and knowledge centres are another set of users. The second area of uptake are home users. Here, users will opt for a multi-purpose device that will serve the entire family.
Though HP has always had the best of products in its portfolio, a customised media plan has been missing for the Indian market. How do you plan to change this?
Considering that the youth is our main TG (target group), we constantly endorse the idea of working towards the best media plan. Through our research, we realised that the young generation hardly reads newspapers. They are always online, even when on the move. So digital will play a significant role and a major part of our spends will go there. We have 37,000 Facebook members on our brand page within six months of presence on the social networking website. As part of an online initiative, we are also encouraging people to put together a music score which will be reviewed by experts. All this will go a long way in developing an affinity between the youth and our brand.
When will HP launch its tablet, Veer, and its smartphones in India?
Both of these are generating a lot of interest in India. We have not decided the date of launch for both the products yet. Out tab is already there in the US, Canada and other markets in Europe and Asia.
PSG has seen an exodus of professionals followed by the company losing market share in the laptop segment. How do you plan to set things right?
We are here to win the hearts and minds of the Indian youth with our products. We want people to look at HP in a new light. We will strengthen our sales channels by increasing our footprint through HP World and large format multi-brand retail stores such as Croma and Vijay Sales. We are doing well on the e-commerce platform too. Besides metros, a lot of traction is coming from tier 2 cities as well.
India remains an important market for HP.
Not long ago, our CEO was here and that speaks volumes about the significance of HP India. For me, three things need undivided attention for our brand to grow. Having good products is the key factor in enhancing our brand equity. The second thing is to have a stable distribution channel. Thirdly, a strong leadership team to drive growth and thankfully, we have one.