Microsoft eyes bigger slice of retail business

Microsoft India is looking at garnering a fair share of the retail business in the next three to five years.

The $40-billion software behemoth expects the retail business to contribute 20-30 per cent to its revenues in India during the period as against less than 10 per cent at present.

Speaking to Business Standard, Doug Hauger, business and marketing officer, Microsoft Corporation (India) Private Limited, said, " India is growing significantly as a market for us and we expect retail to contribute 20-30 per cent of our business in India in the next three-five years."

For this purpose, the company is expanding its retail presence in the tier-II and tier-III cities in the country.

"We have already partnered with 250 retailers in this regard and expect this number to increase to 700 in the next couple of years," he added. Declining to divulge the exact investment on this initiative, Hauger, however, said that the "investment would be significant."

So far, piracy has been a major hurdle for the company in getting sufficient business on the retail side, according to Neelam Dhawan, managing director of Microsoft Corporation (India) Private Limited.

On the whole, the software piracy rate is around 73 per cent in India as compared to around 42 per cent in Singapore, 28 per cent in Japan and 21 per cent in the US. However, in the retail business in India, the piracy rate hovers over 90 per cent.

"People continue to assume that software is supposed to be free. There is, therefore, a need to educate people about the need for buying licensed software," Dhawan said.

According to Hauger, the company would, therefore, be increasing its campaign against piracy by promoting the use of licensed software.

"We have also started an initiative wherein we co-invest in the marketing expenses of resellers to encourage them to sell licensed software," he added.

The company is not looking at focusing on the legal route for arresting the piracy problem, as, according to Hauger, while the laws in India are good, there is no proper enforcement.

"Besides, 50 per cent of the consumers are not even aware that they are buying pirated software," he added.

---

The company expects retail to contribute 20-30 per cent of its business in India in the next three-five years

It is expanding its retail presence in the tier-II and tier-III cities in the country for this purpose

Microsoft has already partnered with 250 retailers in this regard and expects this number to increase to 700 in the next couple of years