Dehradun’s IT channel market has 30-35 retailers and members of the local IT association – Uttarakhand Information technology Association (UITTA)
The declining sales of local retailers and distributors of Dehradun city have been becoming major reasons of worry, owing to the online sales catching up fast. As the city is getting prepared to be among smart cities, the digitisation of services and digital payments has not only provided convenience to local customers, but has also reduced the footfalls to the local retail stores to half.
Despite several business projects announced by the government such as Namami Gange, Smart Cities Mission and many others, the digital push has not given much business opportunities to the local channel community.
“Being a major tourist city, Dehradun’s proximity to Mussoorie and other famous Himalayan shrines usually doesn’t bring business for us. Our business is more centered on local purchase done by SMBs, home and small corporate and student clientele. The recent launch of Udaan, a network centric B2B trade platform designed specifically for SMBs in India, has further hit the sales of local partners. This portal has been selling computer and peripherals at cheaper rates. Partners outside Dehradun have been selling in bulk at much lower rates,” laments Balbir Singh Rathore, Owner, Best Computers, which deals in networking and laptops selling.
Overall, Dehradun’s IT channel sells approximately 1,500 laptops and desktops per month. The market has 30-35 retailers and members of the local IT association – Uttarakhand Information Technology Association (UITTA).
Vikas Dewan of Strategic Markets, one of the leading system integrators for the government projects, says, “We are getting involved in lots of government projects. This is very good for our business. We are getting more business opportunities from the number of government projects that are lined up, which are related to laptops and desktops for the education sector.”
UITTA has been active in the city and is working towards education and welfare of local partners. “The association has helped its partners in organising GST camps and they have very actively managed the situation. We continue to expect the best from our association,” says Rathore.
