Newegg, one of the largest online PC hardware retailers in the world, is planning to expand their e-commerce business by launching in India. Newegg’s CMO, Soren Mills, revealed at Computex 2014 in Taiwan that India is one of the six new countries where Newegg plans to launch operations.
The other five in the list include Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland and Singapore. As you may have already noticed, India and Singapore are the only Asian countries that made it to the list.
At present, Newegg does business in the US, the UK, Canada, China and Australia. Almost every PC hardware component, such as the latest microprocessors from Intel and AMD, associated motherboards, the fastest RAM kits are all available on Newegg.com. Gaming laptops can be purchased from Newegg as well as other gaming peripherals, such as liquid cooling setups.
At present, the gaming industry in India is booming. As more and more people get into game development, or even designing and model development for that matter, the demand for top-notch components from select OEMs becomes a necessity. Newegg’s entry to India might be that spell of rainfall that such people in this country have been waiting for since long.
The Indian market, however, is very price conscious. Indian consumers love to purchase goods at the lowest possible price, even if the difference is in just a few Rupees. Also, deals, coupons and “save x%” offers is what attracts Indian consumers best. Newegg already offers such “Daily Deals” on their website. If they price their products well, they could quickly go on to capture the online PC hardware market in the South-East Asian subcontinent.
While it is great news, Newegg needs to ensure that they adhere to Indian FDI policies. While it is expected that FDI in e-commerce will open up soon, in currently scenario they will need to launch the marketplace model (Like what Amazon has done).
It remains to be seen as to how Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart will react to this news. Flipkart currently sells select PC hardware, gaming peripherals as well as laptops. Amazon India is also active in this field. Add to that, brick and mortar stores in places such as Nehru Place in New Delhi and various other IT hubs across the country aren’t going to sit idle while a new online retailer simply comes and sweeps their clients away.
Newegg certainly has a tough journey ahead if it hopes to capture much of the Indian market. They do have a proven record, so it is likely that they succeed in their venture.
At the end of the day, gamers and designers alike are the ones who are going to benefit from increased choice in components, as well as the ease of ordering goods from home and having it quickly delivered to their doorstep.
