MSI further extends retail reach in India

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Micro Star International (MSI) announced today that they will further enhance their retail reach to make their range of consumer notebooks easily available to a wider customer base. In a customer-friendly move, the Company has tied up with popular large format retail chains including Croma, Reliance Digital and Big Bazaar across several cities.

Under the retail push, the notebooks will be displayed at dedicated MSI-branded counters in the LFR stores. Moreover customers will be able to browse and access detailed product literature, while trained personnel will on hand to explain product features and help customers derive an “MSI experience” before making their purchase decision.

Tony Yang, MD of MSI India, said: “The LFR stores will bring new availability for MSI’s industry-leading notebooks to a wider consumer base. They will help buyers make more informed decisions by acquainting them with the capabilities and unique features of the different models.”

MSI initiated its LFR program on a pilot basis with 30 Croma stores across major metros, last month. This arrangement is now expanding to more than 43 stores across 10 cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Cochin, Ahmadabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad and Rajkot. MSI will be retailing the stylish and award winning X-Slim series of notebooks as well as their Classic series through the Croma outlets.

Further, MSI has already begun rollout of similar retail programme through Reliance and Big Bazaar stores. MSI notebooks are available at more than 20 reliance stores across ten cities, and another 21 Big Bazaar outlets in Delhi, NCR and Mumbai. The ultra-light U-series netbooks are placed in the Reliance Digital and Big Bazaar outlets.

Johnny Lin, National Product, Sales and Marketing Manager for MSI India informed that similar tie-ups with other retail chains were on the anvil. “The tie-up with these large retailers will strengthen MSI presence in India. The brand aims at leveraging an environment where the customers can have a first hand experience of MSI latest technology before buying it. Similar kind of tie-ups will be rolled out with more outlets within the next six months,” said Lin.

The MSI retail outlet programme is driven by increasing consumer demand and is part of Company’s commitment to the Indian market. Some months ago, MSI had established its first branded retail access point for its entire range of laptops, in Delhi’s IT trade hub – Nehru Place market in collaboration with its channel partner Sun Computers. That arrangement is also being expanded with coming up of another branded retail point in partnership with Technology Next.

The MSI retail outlet programme through LFR chains and co-branded individual stores will expand the number customer access points in India from 90 today to about 300 by the end of 2010.