Interview with Suvir Khullar from Micro solutions about the premium and gifts market in India. Market structure, products and future of this huge market. (more than 1 Million people live in India, this is three times more than US or EU)
Henk : Suvir, I know you’re in the business since many years as we meet at most of the important international tradeshows like HKfair and PSI. Please give some short backfeed about yourself and your company, Micro solutions, when you started in Premium and gift business, how many employees you have in your company etc.
Suvir : We started business in the year 1996, with an investment of about 80 Euros! It started as a 1 man operation and now we are a team of about 40 over our three offices in Mumbai, New Delhi and Bangalore. In the beginning we were concentrating on just 1 item. But over time we have grown into a one-stop gifting solutions company. Besides being sole territorial representatives for 3M, Cross Pens & Mont Blanc, we have over 500 different items ranging from apparel to awards to handicrafts, leather, computer accessories and general gifts.
Henk : Can you describe the structure of your local Premium and Gift market? How many distributors are active? Are there many importers keeping stock of gifts and premiums? Which are the “active” regions ?
Suvir : The Premium and Gift Market is mostly concentrated out of the major cities. Mumbai is the largest centre, followed by New Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Ahmedabad. There will be a few thousand gift sellers across these cities. Most of them though are traders. The importers keeping stock are quite limited.
Henk : Is the Indian Market similar product wise? Do you sell in India the same type of products as people do in Europe? Is there a type of products particularly popular In India? Do you have any precise figures about sales volumes?
Suvir : The preference for products does not really change much region wise where corporate gifting is concerned. India is a very price conscious market and has a different climate too. Also people are not much into adventure sports. So items like ice scrapers, camping, cycling accessories do not sell much here. The corporate gift market should be in excess of 200 million USD.
Henk : I know it’s difficult, but what is the market share of locally produced items, Chinese import and eventually European imports? How do you feel about this?
Suvir : I would guesstimate the market share to be 45% local, 50% Chinese and 5% European products.
Henk : In a few last words, how do you think the Indian market of premiums and gifts will evolve in the next years?
Suvir : Clients are looking for single window providers so that they can get better service, reliability, better understanding of their brand guidelines and also better prices. They do not wish to go hunting for different products to multiple vendors.
Thanks Suvir for your time !
The main website of Micro solutions : http://www.giftingideas.com
