Disrupting the existing customer loyalties is the biggest challenge: Eric Wei, ViewSonic

Founded in 1987 by James Chu in California, USA, ViewSonic over the years has evolved into a market leader in visual technologies category worldwide. Recognized as one of the leading players in user connectivity, the brand caters to the education, business, entertainment and professional segments through an assortment of products, viz. LED monitors, touch displays, projectors, large-format displays, virtual desktops et al.
Having entered India in 2006 via distribution route, the brand has created a notable presence in the country and its products are available in all the leading electronic retail stores and on various e-commerce marketplaces. In fact, India is one of the top three performing markets for ViewSonic today.
Indiaretailing.com chats with ViewSonic Asia-Pacific Senior Sales Director Eric Wei to know more about the brand, presence across channels, opportunities and challenges, and plans ahead for the Indian market.
Acknowledging that there is a lot of scope for brands in the category to succeed in India, Wei, however, also feels that the growth here is comparatively stagnant as compared to other international or developed markets.
Tell us about your company’s journey thus far?
ViewSonic has been a market leader in visual technologies category for over two and a half decades. It’s safe to say that our company is one of the leading players in user connectivity, as a brand our offerings cater to the education, business, entertainment, and professional segments. Our product range comprises of LED monitors, touch displays, projectors, large-format displays, virtual desktops and more. Our brand journey has surely been noteworthy – we now have a better understanding of the markets that we operate in. Just to name a few milestones, in the mid-1990s, ViewSonic rose to become one of the top-rated makers of computer CRT monitors alongside some of the key players in the market. In 2000, ViewSonic acquired the Nokia Display product’s branded business. We are committed to building partnerships that are growth driven and leads to customer satisfaction and I can say that we are on the right path.
Tell us about your Indian presence, and what is the business model here?
We started our operations in the Indian market in 2006. We commenced our activities in the Indian markets through the distribution channel. Currently, we are present in all the leading electronic retail stores. Our significant channel partners include Creative Peripherals (25 plus stores in India) and WPG Holdings (Global presence, 24 branches/stores in India). In addition, we also have a presence across various leading e-commerce marketplaces like Amazon, Flipkart, etc.
What is your product portfolio?
At ViewSonic, we endeavour to provide the best visual experience for our consumers. Working with the industry’s most advanced technology providers, we strive to develop cutting-edge solutions for consumers with rigorous product research and development and ensure that effective standards are in place for excellent quality control. This can be gauged by how we revamp our products with new innovations be it the laser phosphor technology in our LS820 projector series or our auto-pivot function in the professional LCD monitor series which automatically rotates the screen orientation to a 90-degree angle. Our aim is to give the best product to our customers; along with the high-end technology we keep our products as user-friendly as possible. We believe in research and innovation, our key focus always remains in creating a product which is better than the previous one.
Share your impression of the present Indian visual technology market. How would you compare India with other international markets?
The visual technology market is one of the fastest growing sectors in the technology industry. We have been witnessing latest innovation regularly from VR to Ultra Slim to 4K. VR (Virtual Reality) is the latest and most desired gaming tool that we have in the market currently. VR is a technology that uses virtual reality headsets, the person using VR equipment is able to look around in the artificial world in high definition. Another revolution in visual technology is 4K – this is a new definition of high definition, it is technically UHD as per the consumer technology association. 4K/UHD have approximately 8 million active pixels. Flexible Display, Ultra Slim Display and transparent display are just a few more examples that we will be experiencing in the near future. The Visual technology has tremendous potential and will continue to astonish us with the constant evolution.
India is a developing country which means there is a lot of scope for brands to succeed here and for us it is one of the top three performing countries. However, if we compare it to international or developed markets the growth is comparatively stagnant.
How has been the customer response so far and how are you looking to increase your customer base? What is latest in terms of products and technology that you are offering in India?
The Indian technology enthusiasts have been supportive and welcoming so far. Our vision is to create top of the mind recall for ViewSonic in LCD monitors, touch displays, projectors, large format displays and virtual desktops categories. We would like to target the education sector, corporates, medical institutions as well as the luxury segment. We have recently launched PA503sin the projector category and XG2402which is a high-performance monitor for the gaming enthusiasts.
What are the challenges that are thrown by the Indian market? Could you tell us about any stumbling blocks that your brand has been facing? What can you say about the competition?
The technology landscape in India is ever evolving. One of the biggest challenges that a brand like ours faces is to disrupt the existing customer loyalties and create a strong positioning for ViewSonic. The concentration of urban and educated audience is mostly in key metros and some significant brands still struggle to penetrate into the tier II and tier III markets. However, with the success of e-commerce marketplaces we have seen a significant shift in the demand from smaller cities as well. We acknowledge that today’s Indian audience is much more aware and also has an appetite for the latest technological innovations. There is definitely competition in the industry that we operate in, however, we are driven to provide our discerning customers with the best in visual technology.
Give us a sense of the brand’s growth and sales in the country? What are the targets for the current fiscal?
Our key focus of this year is on the education sector. The market share of ViewSonic in the last financial year has grown more than five times from Q1–Q3.
How are you looking to further grow ViewSonic in India? Would you be considering opening your own stores in the future?
Our aim is to be the preferred global brand of visual solution products as we continue to focus on display-centric offerings. We want to position ourselves as a leading brand offering the most consumer-friendly products across different segments of the market be it for corporates, gaming enthusiasts, professionals or individuals seeking recreational use. We are highly committed towards the Indian market. We have a lot of new and exciting range of products in the pipeline for professional photographers and gamers, also with the introduction of our revolutionary monitors and projectors; we are focusing on the education sector. Our aim is to be the leading players in the electronics segment in India. We are still testing the waters in the Indian market and we do not have plans of opening standalone stores as of now.