What entails ’fruitful partnerships’? It’s the connection between loyal distributors and a brand that cares for them. As covered in our last 3 editions, DH Lighting India, which offers products under the ‘Excelite’ brand name, held a unique ‘distributors meet’ in late September for 3 days in Siliguri, West Bengal. Enthusiastic distributors spoke at length with Motorindia to share business trends, how DH Lighting is honouring the distributors and their hard work. The highlight of the talks has been how they have all felt the emotional connect with the company because the management and the brand treats them as the ‘Excelite Family’. As the last offering in the series, we bring you 3 distributors – Amar Kumar, GVS Marketing from Raipur, Chattisgarh, Anil Shah of ETNA Group from Indore, Madhya Pradesh, and the couple, Prakash and Swarna Prabhu, owners of Prabhu Enterprise from Mangalore, Karnataka.
Amar Kumar lauds DH Lighting’s forward thinking for inviting ‘Women Power’
Before uttering anything about business, Amar Kumar, owner of GVS Marketing hailing from Raipur, Chattisgarh, lauds DH Lighting for their forward thinking in inviting the ‘women power’ – in other words, the wives of Excelite distributors – to the exclusive ‘Distributor Meet’.
Why, you may ask!
Amar Kumar answers: “Women are now actively participating in many businesses and the label that some industries like automotive are male-dominated is slowly fading.” His wife terms the meet ‘perfect’ because it gives not only the distributors of Excelite like Amar Kumar a wonderful opportunity to connect with others from across India but their wives also a great platform to benefit from such a gathering.
Amar Kumar founded his company GVS Marketing in 1995. In 2006 2016, Amar decided to become a distributor for DH Lighting products and within a year, he managed to cover major markets across India Chattisgarh, with headquarters in Raipur, and a branch in Bilaspur.
Amar shares: “First and foremost, Excelite products offer superlative quality. You may not hear many distributors or retailers saying this but it is true for me that I get satisfaction in selling quality products like that of Excelite. And my direct customers and the end users feel the same too.”
Growing by Leaps and Bounds
Amar caters to almost all vehicle segments – from 2-wheelers to tractors and everything in between. Out of his total business revenue per annum, about 15% comes from DH Lighting.
He says: “Roughly 20% of my business comes from commercial vehicles and my business is growing at the rate of 30% every year and Excelite has a big hand in it.”
In the initial days of distributorship with DH Lighting, there were challenges in product placement but his growing network worked out the obstacles in no time. He explains: “Excelite products always have a quality advantage over competition.”
When a quality product is combined with flawless service, it becomes a winning combination in business. And in that context, Amar talks about the role of an electrician: “In this business, the electrician is the one who has the power to push a certain brand when dealing with the end customer. He just needs to be taught about the core strength of the product after which he can prove the same to the customer too. And, this has come true for us in the days when Excelite products were newly introduced in the market.”
Eager Market for Premium Products
Be it commercial vehicles or any other vehicular segment, customers are ready to pay for quality. Amar agrees: “Earlier, retailers were known to cheat customers by selling cheap products for the sake of bigger margins. But today, the end customers, mechanics, and technicians do not accept cheap products any more. Since GST has come into the picture, retailers are benefitting by better margins on products and that is why they themselves are not interested in selling fake or low-quality products. Ultimately, this is benefitting the end customer and I am extremely happy with Excelite products.”
Amar is eagerly waiting for Excelite to get on to the digital platform and take up e-commerce in a big way.
He thinks: “It is the easiest way to reach out to the end users and to raise awareness about the superior quality that they are offering the market.”
Aiming for a business growth of 20-30% per annum by 2025, Amar is hopeful that a better part of it comes from being the distributor of Excelite solutions.
Anil Shah vouches for Excelite’s exciting product range for CV segment
A mechanical engineer by qualification, Anil Shah founded his company, ETNA Group, in 1989 at Indore, Madhya Pradesh. In early 90s, he switched to distributing auto components and today, he has opened branches in Bhopal and Jabalpur.
Anil praises the efforts of DH Lighting in organizing the distributors meet at yet another exotic locale as has been the practice for DH Lighting in the past years. Though COVID pandemic dampened the spirits last year, Anil has been eager to meet the distributor fraternity this year to connect with them in person and share valuable ideas with them.
Partnering with DH Lighting
Anil has been associated with Excelite since the time they entered the Indian market. He says: “We were distributing products of other companies but we were not satisfied with their quality. At that time, we met the management of Excelite and we were impressed by their work ethics and products, their core strengths, and we liked that the product range is highly competent.”
Anil has doubled the growth of his company in the last 3 years – 2 of which were facing the pandemic – owing to Excelite and its products.
He shares: “My team and I have done much ground work in establishing the Excelite product in the market. Today we are witnessing the fruits of it.”
People | Process | Product
DH Lighting fulfills all the three aspects of marketing – people, process and product. Hence, despite Madhya Pradesh being a price conscious market, it has accepted Excelite products with open arms.
Agrees Anil: “We are witnessing a few developments together – not only are the new age vehicles coming in, our Madhya Pradesh is undergoing aggressive growth in terms of economy and industry and we are growing in population too. So, Excelite has a large market at its disposal to distribute its products. It is great that Excelite has the widest range of halogen lamps in the country when compared to the competition. And that is why we are able to cater to every vehicle segment.”
The CV segment being a highly cost aware segment, the challenge for Anil is to convince his customers to buy their products. But according to Anil, Excelite has been smart about it.
He says: “Excelite has products pegged at competitive prices for the CV segment. These are available in different wattage and our customers have been vying for them. And that is making it easier for us in capturing a bigger market share as we grow.”
Global Brand Serving Local Market
Anil is bullish about Excelite products, especially the policies that the company is adopting to support the distributors unconditionally. The company markets its products aggressively which is what has established Excelite as the most sought-after automotive lighting brand across India.
He is happy to share that: “Customer acceptance has grown by leaps and bounds over the years. Repeat orders are at their highest for Excelite products. We are happy that we receive the cumulative advantage.”
Anil highlights the best part about Excelite lamps which is that lighting solutions are now being viewed as safety devices – serving far more than creating illumination.
Anil feels: “These special LED lamps have extra beam length and are highly luminous especially those meant for night time use. This makes it a far better product than the conventional product. With these lights, the driver can judge the distance of the obstacles better and much earlier than before.”
Today, any and every business finds it profitable to shift to digital platforms even if partially. But automotive component business is yet to play catch up.
He agrees: “Things have begun to change now. Some lamps and accessories are finding place on e-platforms and are being marketed enthusiastically on them. I am sure in the next few years, DH Lighting will also take this platform up and aim for even more reach.”
Anil Shah wishes for Excelite to become the most successful lighting brand in the automotive lighting segment in the new year.
For Prakash and Swarna Prabhu, no other brand exists but Excelite
Karnataka-based Prabhu Enterprise, founded by Prakash and Swarna Prabhu, has been associated with DH Lighting since 2016. Responsibility wise, if Swarna takes care of the day-to-day administration and billing related work besides maintaining inventory, Prakash does the footwork to connect with retailers, and electricians to develop business across the state. For the duo, no other brand exists but Excelite.
Prakash shares their journey to date: “Initial days of creating awareness of Excelite products among our customers, and retailers was tough because DH Lighting and Excelite were new names in the market and skepticism was high. Those same customers, today, are with us and we have standing orders from them to let them know on priority whenever Excelite launches new products in the market.” And therein lies the proof of the pudding!
Prabhus’ cater to discerning customers seeking quality lighting products – be they small, big or heavy vehicle segments. Passenger cars, where most of the HID and LEDs are used, and commercial vehicles, especially the bus segment, are on top of the list.
He says: “The beam length and the luminosity of their HID products are greater and more intense than what is available in the market today. HID lighting products of Excelite are quick to light while others in the market are slow-starting. Recently, the company launched LEDs in 35 and 55 watts at competitive pricing. Again, these LEDs are performing way better than others in the market – be it in terms of light intensity, longevity or greater beam length.”
Swarna adds: “In the last 3 years, we have seen a growth of more than 60% of our business per annum owing to Excelite products. Despite the COVID pandemic last year, we could double our business and we have achieved the same in the first quarter this year.”
Playing to the Gallery
Talking about market preferences, Prakash says customers prefer more of LEDs and as soon as new range is launched, Prakash and Swarna make them available to their customers. The couple likes the fact that distributors of Excelite pan India are well-connected with each other due to which they willingly help each other’s customers.
He shares vociferously: “When my customers travel to another state and face any breakdowns, a single phone call from me to the local distributor there enables service to my customer. It is the same here too. Right here in Karnataka, customers of Excelite receive service in every nook and corner.”
According to Prakash and Swarna, Excelite is already fully prepared to take on future needs of the market.
He says: “Excelite has launched the HID series recently which no other competing brand is offering in high wattage. The products fit in perfectly with the current market requirement. The best part about Excelite is that they respond to the market requirement swiftly.”
Expansion Plans
Prakash and Swarna have now expanded their services to Tamil Nadu as well and the customers are responding extremely well.
They say: “We are confident that we will be able to create a wider network for Excelite products in Tamil Nadu much quicker than the time it took in Karnataka. CV segment there, though is price conscious, is huge and we can take advantage of it. We wish to see double or triple the current growth rate with the help of Excelite products in the new year.”
Praising the distributor meet organized by DH Lighting, Prakash and Swarna feel that they have had a great opportunity to share their own business insights and experiences with others from different states. And with that, the distributors bid adieu to the location with happy spirits while continuing to hold metaphorical hands with Excelite!