Projector: NEC Projects Popularity

The channel partners recognized NEC as the most popular projector vendor, with market leader Epson coming a close second

In projectors, there was not only a new winner. It was a new entrant NEC that made it to the top of the channel mindshare in this category in the Channel Satisfaction Survey 2015. And unlike most segments, the market leader (by share) Epson was pipped to the #2 spot by the channel partners surveyed. Last year’s winner BenQ too dropped further down to the third rank in the overall position.

What made NEC tick amongst the channel partners surveyed? They are happy with NEC’s product pricing, profit margins for partners, credit policies offered and settlement of back-end incentives and schemes. Even the richness of online resources offered, an effective partner portal and a highly interactive site for resolving partner queries gave NEC a number of brownie points. The Japanese vendor has also been effective and consistent in communication with its channel partners, more or less retained a dedicated personnel for maintaining partner relationships and has consistently honored commitments made to the channel partners. Partners are however still skeptical about the diversity of the NEC product range, its user-friendliness and conformance to specifications.

There is little doubt, on the other hand, about Epson’s product quality quotient. It has the technological leadership, the most diverse product range, overall product reliability and conform to specifications. Partners are also happy with Epson’s advertising efforts, innovative market development programs and flexibility in conducting localized promotions. They are also satisfied with competent account managers ensuring a fast turnaround time with their proactive services approach.

Last year’s winner BenQ slipped behind NEC and Epson on nearly every parameter. Particularly galling were its lack of flexibility in commercial terms and policies, little interactivity of the site for resolving partner queries and lack of an effective online partner portal. Vendors across the board revised the prices of SKUs because of rupee deprecation against the dollar. This resulted in steep increase in prices of XGA, WXGA and other higher resolution projectors. This too impacted the dynamics of the projector market to a certain extent.