Amit Saraf,
Managing Director
IMS Mercantiles Ltd.
How was 2012 for IMS?
2012 was a tough year for the photography industry overall, and for us as well. It was a year with ups and down. e beginning of the year looked promising, but the sudden drop in sales of cameras and camera accessories since May kept put us on toes constantly. However recently the industry has showed a positive outlook and with the introduction of our new items, we are now very much aligned to achieve 40% growth YOY.
How do you look forward to 2013? What would be your strategy to increase market share?
Recently we have introduced a lot of new products including studio accessories like Studio Flash with in built Trigger, Modelling Lamp, Soft Box, Reflector, Light Stand, Speedlite, Speedlite Holder, Trigger, etc. Besides we have also introduced the highest capacity video camera batteries under
our brand Digitek. These are compatible batteries, but even better than original in terms of capacity and performance. We have put these batteries under the Digitek Platinum Series. With all these new products in our portfolio we are very much prepared to increase our market share.
We have also recently started to occupy space exclusively for our products at dealer points through in shop fixtures. This activity has been carried out at 24 different locations of the country in 2012. This gives us a very good edge in the market with our sales and also with our brand image. In 2013, we will carry this activity in over 100 dealer outlets.
Besides we are also taking on Electronic Media starting new financial year.
What are the various promotions we can expect from IMS at Photofair?
We relatively have a much larger booth at the Photofair 2013. We are showcasing all the new products that we have recently launched. Also this time we have setup a live studio to showcase our studio accessories wherein the customers can see and test all related products. End customers will also definitely enjoy discounts and freebies on the products we have to offer.
What were the major challenges faced by the company in 2012? How do you plan to improve upon this in 2013?
The biggest challenge that we face in the Indian market is the goods available in the grey market. is makes it all the more di fficult for companies like us. Since the import duties and local taxes are still very high in India, the gap between the prices o ered by us and in the grey market is substantial. If this gap could be curbed, our growth rate could be as high as 70% YOY or even higher. Besides logistics has always been a key challenge in India. e lead time to make the goods available to the end customers on demand is still very high. We are gearing ourselves by opening up more logistics points. In 2012, we opened two logistics points in Ahmedabad and Hyderabad. e plan is to open more logistics points in order to streamline the logistics issues in 2013.
In India, there is very li le awareness as far as accessories are concerned. How do you plan to tackle this issue?
We advertise very heavily on all the magazines related to the photographic industry. We also participate in almost all the photographic exhibitions held in the country in order to directly communicate with our customers and also educate them about the accessories.
Sujith Gopinath
