In this issue of the zone, we talk to Niranjan Gidwani, CEO of eros group, which distributes, retails and services a portfolio of world-renowned brands throughout the UAE and in select markets MENA region.
The Zone: How long have you been with Eros Group, and what is the ethos of the company?
Niranjan Gidwani: I joined Eros in February 2007 as Vice President. The company’s ethos then and even now is ‘customer delight’. This is a strong belief that governs all we do for all our customers, both internally and externally.
The Zone: Name the top product categories for Eros Group.
Niranjan Gidwani: We are leaders or the number two player in multiple categories. But we account for large shares in smartphones, televisions, refrigerators, vacuum cleaners and air purifiers.
The Zone: Why do you think Eros Group was given the title of UAE’s Choice – SuperBrand for the ninth year in a row?
Niranjan Gidwani: In 2008, we redefined our brand identity and the way we showcased it to customers. This heightened our promise of ‘customer delight’, which through two years of hard work and strong marketing resulted in us being recognised as a SuperBrand in 2011. Since then, we have been committed to this script, if I can call it that, and this has contributed largely to our success in reaching this goal.
The Zone: Define your relationship with Hitachi.
Niranjan Gidwani: Hitachi has been our flagship brand since 1969. Many companies have changed over the past five decades, but because both brands share a similar ethos of always keeping the customer in mind this has contributed to the partnership’s success. In fact, with Hitachi, our relationship goes beyond just distribution and marketing, also providing inputs on key insights in customising for the UAE and the region. This is reflected in the designs of the refrigerators, the motor power of our vacuum cleaners and the large capacity of our washing machines.
The Zone: What technology do you use to keep up with your data?
Niranjan Gidwani: We have employed the Oracle E-Business ERP system for all our end-to-end business information, which now resides in the Oracle Database. This data, along with data from various other systems, lies in the data pool in Cognos Business Intelligence for all our MIS reporting.
The Zone: Does Jafza help you to obtain a competitive advantage?
Niranjan Gidwani: Jafza has worked hard since its inception to become the premier hub in the region for export and import trading. It does help to give us an edge due to the world-class, if not better, infrastructure, policies and personnel.