Kolkata: Gadget demand soars on virtual wings - Times of India

KOLKATA: Nilanjana Goenka, the mother of a Class III boy, had to recently shell out Rs 40,000 to buy a laptop so that her son’s online classes were not disrupted. Her husband had to resume work and could no longer spare his laptop. Nilanjana, a homemaker, initially tried to get her son adjusted to her smartphone, but found that the screen was too small and was straining his eyes.
Sukanya Das, a management teacher at Nopany Institute of Technology, takes online classes on her laptop herself and so had to get two tablets for her two sons, one in Class III and the other in Class VIII for their online classes.

When schoolteacher Neha Dubey did not find a laptop within her desired price range, she headed to Chandni Chowk in central Kolkata to get a desktop.
The move from classroom to virtual, necessitated to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, has triggered a ‘tech scramble’, with laptops, tablets, smartphones, desktops, along with peripherals like headphones, microphones and webcams flying off the shelves.
Even as people are spending a lot less on several things because of the lockdown, the rush for gadgets has continued unabated since standalone stores and, later, malls re-opened last month. The surge in demand is due to hundreds of professionals working from home and thousands of children attending online classes, even as there’s uncertainty over schools reopening. Stores — both inside malls and in the electronic goods hub at Chandni — report a 10-fold increase in demand for laptops across brands and price segments.
“In the past two weeks I have sold more than 20 laptops, numerous smartphones and accessories like earphones and microphones. For laptops, most parents have a budget of not more than Rs 35,000; for smartphones, it is Rs 15,000,” said Ashutosh Singh of Trimurti Electricals on Madan Street. At Supreme Electronics on Ganesh Chandra Avenue, the stock has had to be replenished multiple times. “The demand has taken us by surprise, as we had expected sluggish sales,” said a floor manager.
In fact, thanks to clashing work-from-home and online classes’ timings, several families are having to invest in multiple computers, even though a trusty shared desktop had been quite sufficient for the past several years. Even as they are feel the economic effects of the pandemic, multiple devices are no longer a luxury, but a necessity. “It’s a big decision to take in these times, but I had no choice,” said Nilanjana. “My son could not concentrate on the small smartphone screen, and it was actually taking a toll on his eyes.”
Marketing professional Riteish Kohli said he was forced to buy a high-end smartphone to complete assignments while his Class VII son could use his laptop for online classes. “Salaries have been readjusted, but we have had to make this investment so that neither work nor studies suffers,” he said. “My wife, a fashion designer, will also need a laptop now, so that she can attend to her clients on digital meeting platforms and video-conferencing,” he added.
During the initial days of online classes, many children had been using their parents’ phones. Now that offices gradually opening, the parents need their gadgets, and are having to buy either a phone or computer for the kids. In families that have more than one child of school-going age, this translates to multiple gadgets for kids.
There is a huge rush for mid-segment phones across brands, as they are efficient, while being pocket-friendly. “Across stores in the city, Mi Note 9 Pro and Mote 9, which are the two highest-selling mid-segment phones, are not available. There is just a 5% supply to a 100% demand rise,” said Paramanand Bhandari, a store manager at City Center-2. Sanjay Chhordia, who owns a chain of stores across malls, said there was an unprecedented demand across price range.
There are no stocks for even premium products like the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro, too, which cost upwards of Rs 68,000 and 1,04,000. “We are pre-booking, but the waiting list is long. There’s a 100% demand and just a 10% supply,” said Kush Chopra, whose store in City Center-1 has seen a never-before surge in footfall since re-opening. There is a similar rush for the high-end OnePlus phones as well, store owners said. “The popular iPad 7th generation and iPad Air 3 have also vanished and the supply rate is just 5%,” said Partho Mukherjee, manager of an Apple store in Dalhousie.
“Since we are out of the latest laptops, people are now asking for ‘end of life’ laptops (models that are on the way to being phased out), but these too are selling at a premium,” said Siddharth Saboo of Saboo Computers at Chandni Market.
The non-availability of Chinese mid-segment brands, following the border clash, has also resulted in a spike of demand for non-Chinese brands like Samsung phones priced between Rs 10,000 and Rs 25,000, say store owners. “The demand has gone up by 100% for these phones, and we can at the most supply at a rate of 40%,” said Sanjeev Chopra, owner of Limton Stores on Elgin Road and Dalhousie.
Even teachers, some of whom are not very tech-savvy, have been rushing to purchase gadgets to conduct online classes. “Along with a good computer, we also need a good camera and microphone so that we are visible and audible,” said Neha.

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