Laptop demand booms in Bangladesh market

Some 5 lakh pieces of laptops are imported every year, as the growth rate has touched around 10–12 per cent in recent years with the government’s vision of Digital Bangladesh driving people’s craving for technological solutions.

 The Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) president Mustafa Jabbar told The Independent that approximately 5 lakh laptops were being imported from abroad each year, whereas the number in 2008 was just around 20 to 25 thousand.

 “It shows that the demand for laptops in the local market is growing at a fast rate each year,” he added.  

 Executive director, Consumer and E-commerce of Lenovo India, Rajesh Thadani told The Independent, “Bangladesh is an important market for Lenovo. We entered Bangladesh four years ago and have grown tremendously since then.”

“Last year, we witnessed a strong growth in revenues with 124 per cent year-over-year growth. This figure indicates Lenovo’s high growth prospects in the Bangladesh market,” informed Thadani.

 With the tagline of ‘From Mourn to Strength, Freedom in Technology’ the winter edition of the just ended Laptop Fair was held at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) in Dhaka recently.

 This year, the Techshohor Laptop Fair is the nineteenth edition of its kind in the country, hosted by organiser Expo Maker.

Expo Maker’s strategic planner Muhammad Khan said, “We experienced an overwhelming crowd of people from all walks of lives including the young generation throughout the fair.”

“We can say that the previous record of a massive crowd was broken this year, as the participants showed tremendous interest in the latest technology and innovations,” he added.

 Local production

When asked whether Bangladesh is capable of manufacturing laptops, BASIS president Mustafa Jabbar cited an example and said, Bangladesh is already manufacturing laptops but in small numbers. Walton manufactures 80 per cent of the components locally such as motherboards and processors.

“The government has reduced duty on spare parts (approximately 94 items) this year; so we will see the impact within one year,” said the BASIS president.

Highlighting a few points, he said, the import tariff on built-in products (forming an integral part of a structure or device) should be increased from 7 to 15 per cent, so that local companies got the chance to manufacture and source those products in the market and export as well.

Famous foreign brands such as Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Dell could establish manufacturing plants and export their products from Bangladesh as well. The government had already declared a 10 per cent cash incentive on export of ICT products, said Jabbar.   

He also said Bangladesh has become a fertile ground for software and hardware manufacturing because of the introduction of industry-friendly policies.

 Leading brands

Explaining their unique product at the fair, product management executive of Global Brand Pvt Ltd Mahmudul Islam told The Independent that ‘Asus-VivoBook S510’ is their unique product, which they launched for the first time at the fair.

“We are the sole distributor to bring the Asus brand laptop to Bangladesh. Most of the products we provide, including ‘VivoBook S510’, are equipped with the licensed version of Windows 10,” he said.          

Highlighting some of the products they showcased at the fair, he said, “A laptop, titled ‘Republic of Gamers’ (ROG), made by Asus, drew the attention of game-lovers throughout the fair.”

When asked if they had met their target at the fair, he said, “We have sold more than 700 laptops in the three-day laptop fair. The products we showcased at the fair ranged from Tk 20,800 to highest Tk 6,30,000.”

 Describing the demand for laptops in the domestic market, he said that the laptop demand is increasing, as consumers preferred them because they met the classic demand for a powerful and portable computer.

 “We have sold 7,000 laptops per month and the growth rate has increased 20–30 per cent over the previous year. The demand for thinner laptops is increasing day by day,” he added.

 “We offered discounts ranging from Tk 2,000 to Tk 3,000 on different Asus’s products at the fair,” Mahmudul Islam informed.

 Lenovo, a Chinese multinational technology company, participated in the fair with their three special and unique products—such as Yoga, ideaPad and Legion.   

Shekhar Karmakar, regional sales manager of Overseas Business, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan of Lenovo India Private Ltd, told The Independent that Lenovo had started off as a manufacturing major in the Personal Computer (PC) space. Eventually, the company started manufacturing diversified products such as laptops, smartphones, workstations, servers and electronic storage devices.

 “Since 2013, Lenovo has been one of the world’s largest personal computer vendors in terms of unit sales. On the consumer front, we market the Ideapad and Yoga range of notebooks along with Legion gaming laptops and IdeaCentre. On the commercial side, we market the ThinkPad notebooks as well as the ThinkCentre desktops,” he added.

 General Manager of Lenovo India Private Ltd Naveen Kejriwal told The Independent that, especially for this laptop fair, Lenovo brought three types of products such as Yoga and IdeaPad and Legion. “Yoga and Legion are the strongest brands of Lenovo in the laptop segment across the globe and we would want to maintain the same in Bangladesh,” he said.

 “Lenovo provides innovative and path-breaking solutions with its Yoga 920 in the laptop space and Yoga Tab Pro in the tablet space. Our aim is to make PCs and other devices even more integrated and intuitive,” Kejriwal added.    

 Describing Lenovo’s position in Bangladesh, Kabir Rashed, sales manager deputed by Kestone Integrated Marketing Services Pvt Ltd to Lenovo said, “At present, Lenovo occupies the No 3 position in the Bangladesh market but we are aggressively striving to achieve the No 1 position through an integrated business approach.”

 

Growth factors

When asked about why the laptop market was growing in Bangladesh, e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB) president Razib Ahmed said, the laptop market would continue to grow in Bangladesh mainly because of three factors.

First, it was a powerful device, almost as powerful as a desktop PC, and much more powerful than tablets or smart phones. Many companies preferred laptops because they saved space.

Secondly, one could easily work 3-4 hours with laptops even if there was no electricity.

Finally, it was a portable device and could be carried anywhere.

e-CAB president suggested some points and said the Bangladesh government should take laptops to the rural people, especially to the students.

He said the government should make this endeavour, now that a local giant electronics company like Walton is producing laptops in Bangladesh.

“The government must give huge incentive so that some other local and foreign companies come forward and set up their own manufacturing plants. If we want to develop a knowledge-based society, every family must own at least one laptop,” he added.  

Organisers informed that special discounts and gifts were being offered on the purchase of devices at the fair.

There was a mega pavilion, five sponsor pavilions, 14 mini pavilions alongside the 27 stalls of the local and foreign technology product manufacturers under the umbrella of the expo.

 

Laptop demand booms in Bangladesh market

Some 5 lakh pieces of laptops are imported every year, as the growth rate has touched around 1012 per cent in recent years with the governments vision of Digital Bangladesh driving peoples craving for technological solutions. The Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) president Mustafa Jabbar told The Independent that approximately 5 lakh laptops were being imported from abroad each year, whereas the number in 2008 was just around 20 to 25 thousand. It shows that the demand for laptops in the local market is growing at a fast rate each year, he added. Executive director, Consumer and E-commerce of Lenovo India, Rajesh Thadani told The Independent, Bangladesh is an important market for Lenovo. We entered Bangladesh four years ago and have grown tremendously since then. Last year, we witnessed a strong growth in revenues with 124 per cent year-over-year growth. This figure indicates Lenovos high growth prospects in the Bangladesh market, informed Thadani. With the tagline of From Mourn to Strength, Freedom in Technology the winter edition of the just ended Laptop Fair was held at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) in Dhaka recently. This year, the Techshohor Laptop Fair is the nineteenth edition of its kind in the country, hosted by organiser Expo Maker. Expo Makers strategic planner Muhammad Khan said, We experienced an overwhelming crowd of people from all walks of lives including the young generation throughout the fair. We can say that the previous record of a massive crowd was broken this year, as the participants showed tremendous interest in the latest technology and innovations, he added. Local production When asked whether Bangladesh is capable of manufacturing laptops, BASIS president Mustafa Jabbar cited an example and said, Bangladesh is already manufacturing laptops but in small numbers. Walton manufactures 80 per cent of the components locally such as motherboards and processors. The government has reduced duty on spare parts (approximately 94 items) this year; so we will see the impact within one year, said the BASIS president. Highlighting a few points, he said, the import tariff on built-in products (forming an integral part of a structure or device) should be increased from 7 to 15 per cent, so that local companies got the chance to manufacture and source those products in the market and export as well. Famous foreign brands such as Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Dell could establish manufacturing plants and export their products from Bangladesh as well. The government had already declared a 10 per cent cash incentive on export of ICT products, said Jabbar. He also said Bangladesh has become a fertile ground for software and hardware manufacturing because of the introduction of industry-friendly policies. Leading brands Explaining their unique product at the fair, product management executive of Global Brand Pvt Ltd Mahmudul Islam told The Independent that Asus-VivoBook S510 is their unique product, which they launched for the first time at the fair. We are the sole distributor to bring the Asus brand laptop to Bangladesh. Most of the products we provide, including VivoBook S510, are equipped with the licensed version of Windows 10, he said. Highlighting some of the products they showcased at the fair, he said, A laptop, titled Republic of Gamers (ROG), made by Asus, drew the attention of game-lovers throughout the fair. When asked if they had met their target at the fair, he said, We have sold more than 700 laptops in the three-day laptop fair. The products we showcased at the fair ranged from Tk 20,800 to highest Tk 6,30,000. Describing the demand for laptops in the domestic market, he said that the laptop demand is increasing, as consumers preferred them because they met the classic demand for a powerful and portable computer. We have sold 7,000 laptops per month and the growth rate has increased 2030 per cent over the previous year. The demand for thinner laptops is increasing day by day, he added. We offered discounts ranging from Tk 2,000 to Tk 3,000 on different Asuss products at the fair, Mahmudul Islam informed. Lenovo, a Chinese multinational technology company, participated in the fair with their three special and unique productssuch as Yoga, ideaPad and Legion. Shekhar Karmakar, regional sales manager of Overseas Business, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan of Lenovo India Private Ltd, told The Independent that Lenovo had started off as a manufacturing major in the Personal Computer (PC) space. Eventually, the company started manufacturing diversified products such as laptops, smartphones, workstations, servers and electronic storage devices. Since 2013, Lenovo has been one of the worlds largest personal computer vendors in terms of unit sales. On the consumer front, we market the Ideapad and Yoga range of notebooks along with Legion gaming laptops and IdeaCentre. On the commercial side, we market the ThinkPad notebooks as well as the ThinkCentre desktops, he added. General Manager of Lenovo India Private Ltd Naveen Kejriwal told The Independent that, especially for this laptop fair, Lenovo brought three types of products such as Yoga and IdeaPad and Legion. Yoga and Legion are the strongest brands of Lenovo in the laptop segment across the globe and we would want to maintain the same in Bangladesh, he said. Lenovo provides innovative and path-breaking solutions with its Yoga 920 in the laptop space and Yoga Tab Pro in the tablet space. Our aim is to make PCs and other devices even more integrated and intuitive, Kejriwal added. Describing Lenovos position in Bangladesh, Kabir Rashed, sales manager deputed by Kestone Integrated Marketing Services Pvt Ltd to Lenovo said, At present, Lenovo occupies the No 3 position in the Bangladesh market but we are aggressively striving to achieve the No 1 position through an integrated business approach. Growth factors When asked about why the laptop market was growing in Bangladesh, e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB) president Razib Ahmed said, the laptop market would continue to grow in Bangladesh mainly because of three factors. First, it was a powerful device, almost as powerful as a desktop PC, and much more powerful than tablets or smart phones. Many companies preferred laptops because they saved space. Secondly, one could easily work 3-4 hours with laptops even if there was no electricity. Finally, it was a portable device and could be carried anywhere. e-CAB president suggested some points and said the Bangladesh government should take laptops to the rural people, especially to the students. He said the government should make this endeavour, now that a local giant electronics company like Walton is producing laptops in Bangladesh. The government must give huge incentive so that some other local and foreign companies come forward and set up their own manufacturing plants. If we want to develop a knowledge-based society, every family must own at least one laptop, he added. Organisers informed that special discounts and gifts were being offered on the purchase of devices at the fair. There was a mega pavilion, five sponsor pavilions, 14 mini pavilions alongside the 27 stalls of the local and foreign technology product manufacturers under the umbrella of the expo.