Highlights

• MSI continues to expand its retail footprint in India, despite COVID-19 challenges.
• Partnership with Reliance Digital aims to bring popular MSI models closer to Indian consumers.
• Focus on high-performance laptops meets the needs of both gamers and content creators.
• MSI incorporates emerging technologies like AI into their current products.

In an exclusive interview, Bruce Lin, the Regional Marketing Manager for MSI, delves deep into the company’s evolving strategies for the Indian market.

From expanding retail channels and forging strategic partnerships to staying ahead in technological advancements, Lin shares an insider’s perspective.

With a focus on meeting the varied needs of consumers, MSI is making concerted efforts to broaden its offerings and incorporate emerging technologies like AI. Read on to explore MSI’s roadmap for the Indian market in detail.

Can you elaborate on MSI’s retail expansion strategy in this country?

MSI has been a part of the Indian market for several years, with renewed focus since around 2017-2018. Over the last five to six years, we’ve experienced significant market growth, sometimes seeing a two to three-fold increase.

Despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, our core strategy of expanding retail channels to offer more products and convenience to users has remained consistent. Although the pandemic did slow down our physical retail expansion, we adapted by providing support to our existing channels and engaging with customers in various ways.

By 2022, we resumed our channel expansion, successfully opening about ten laptop experience centers in major Indian cities within a year.
A highlight of this year is our new partnership with Reliance Digital, which allows us to offer popular models, like the Cyborg 15, more widely. As we move forward, we aim to continue broadening our retail channels, not limiting ourselves to just exclusive laptop stores.

So you talked about you know your partnership with Reliance Digital can just talk slightly more about your how it came about?

MSI has traditionally been strong in the online retail space, especially on major platforms like Flipkart and Amazon.
The reason for starting online was to ensure that people across different cities and regions could easily access our products. However, recognizing the value of physical retail experiences, we began exploring partnerships with Croma and Reliance Digital, initially through their online portals, three or four years ago.

After extensive discussions and recognizing a mutually beneficial opportunity, we decided to expand our partnership with Reliance Digital to include physical retail spaces. Currently, our focus is on branches in Mumbai and Bangalore, but we are actively planning to expand to more locations.

Moreover, our retail strategy isn’t limited to partnerships with giant-level resellers like Croma and Reliance; we are also looking into collaborating with regional large-format retailers to increase our visibility.

Since MSI is like such a big name in the gaming community and the gaming laptop market in India is you know witnessing a lot of surge so you know how does MSI plan to differentiate its offerings you know attract more gaming enthusiasts?

MSI’s differentiation strategy in the gaming laptop market is based on the unique angle we take compared to other brands. Most competitors start with general-purpose or lifestyle laptops, whereas we began our journey focusing on high-performance laptops.

Over the last decade, our revenue has primarily been driven by gaming laptops. However, upon closer inspection and direct engagement with the Indian market through more than 100 events and exhibitions, we’ve realized that the usage of our “gaming” laptops extends far beyond gaming.

In recent years, we’ve found that these high-performance machines are being used by power users and content creators, not just gamers.

For example, at the annual Unite event, which is the biggest gathering for game developers and is organized in collaboration with Unity, we found that more than 50-60% of content creators are using MSI laptops for tasks like character simulation and game environment development.

So, in response to this broadening market, our focus is not just on gaming but also on providing high-performance laptops that meet the needs of various power users. This allows us to appeal to a larger demographic while maintaining our stronghold in the gaming community.

I’m sure you must have seen this Framework laptops where you can put in replaceable GPUS, keyboards and more on a single laptop. Does MSI plan to do something like that in the future?

We recognize the growing interest in modular laptops, where components like GPUs and keyboards can be easily replaced. While this could be an industry trend in the next 4-5 years or even the next decade, there are limitations in the current modular designs, especially concerning performance.

From MSI’s standpoint, our focus has always been on optimizing the user experience by ensuring seamless synchronization between hardware and software.
As of now, modular laptops often run into issues when heavy tasks are performed, like environmental or synchronization problems between different components. We aim to avoid these types of issues for our users.

So, while modular technology is promising and aligns with the future of laptops, we feel it still needs more time to mature to meet the performance demands and seamless user experience that MSI aims to deliver.

So what are some of the plans future plans to collaborate with Indian gaming events or influencers to promote MSI?

When it comes to our involvement in the Indian gaming community, we don’t view it merely as a marketing effort. Instead, we consider ourselves as standing alongside the community. We aren’t just selling devices; we’re enabling people to reach their next goals by providing them the performance they require.

We are deeply committed to nurturing talent within this ecosystem. For instance, we recently concluded an initiative called “Creator Work,” which is a contest for content creators to showcase their artwork.
We collaborate with giants in the content creation field who help in selecting the winners. These winners not only receive prizes like MSI devices and cash rewards but also get an opportunity to be spotlighted on a global stage.

So, our plans are continuous and evolving, focused not just on promotion but also on meaningful engagement with the community—be it gamers, influencers, or content creators.

Considering the Indian market which is very price sensitive does MSI have plans to introduce lower priced models in the country?

I absolutely agree that India is a price-sensitive market, but it’s crucial to clarify that price sensitivity doesn’t equate to low purchasing power. That’s why we at MSI are expanding our product range to accommodate both higher and lower price points.

Our laptops currently range from Rs 30,000 to as high as Rs 6 or 7 lakhs. This comprehensive lineup allows us to cater to different consumer needs—be it students requiring an efficient but affordable device or professionals seeking high-performance, desktop-replacement laptops.

What’s noteworthy is that our high-end laptops continue to see strong demand, indicating an increasing market for premium devices.
So rather than just reducing prices, we aim to provide a broader range of options to accommodate the diverse needs of the Indian consumer. This approach allows us to serve multiple market segments effectively.

Recently new technologies like AI, Chat GPT and other technologies have emerged, so are you incorporating any machine learning technology or some new technology in your future products?

MSI has already begun incorporating emerging technologies such as AI into our current product lineup. The foundation of these advancements, whether it’s the Internet of Things, the metaverse, or AI, relies on high-performance computing—something MSI is renowned for.

In terms of machine learning and AI, we’ve introduced new features in our pre-loaded software specifically aimed at content creation. One such feature is AI Artist, which allows users to input certain keywords, and the system will compute automatically based on those keywords.

So, in short, we aren’t waiting for the future to integrate these technologies; they’re already part and parcel of our existing product range, enhancing the user experience and opening up new possibilities.

FAQs

How is MSI planning to expand its retail presence in India?

MSI has resumed channel expansion by opening about ten laptop experience centers in major Indian cities within a year. A significant milestone is its new partnership with Reliance Digital, with a focus on branches in Mumbai and Bangalore.

What sets MSI apart in the booming gaming laptop market in India?

MSI initially focused on high-performance laptops, primarily driven by gaming laptops. They have expanded their market to cater to power users and content creators, offering a broad range of products that appeal to multiple demographics.

Does MSI have plans to introduce lower-priced models in the Indian market?

MSI has a comprehensive lineup that caters to multiple price points, ranging from Rs 30,000 to as high as Rs 6 or 7 lakhs. While acknowledging India’s price-sensitive market, MSI aims to provide a broader range of options instead of merely reducing prices.

How is MSI incorporating new technologies like AI into its products?

MSI has introduced features like AI Artist in its pre-loaded software to enhance user experience and meet emerging technological demands, especially in the fields of content creation.