India's technology services industry can achieve US$300-350 billion in annual revenue by 2025 if it can exploit the fast-emerging business potential in cloud, artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity and other emerging technologies.

The Indian Electronics Market is growing at a rapid pace with the country set to be one of the largest electronics manufacturing hubs by 2025. After sales service plays an important role in customer satisfaction and customer retention. It generates loyal customers. Customers start believing in the brand and get associated with the organization for a longer duration. They speak good about the organization and its products.

There are diverse methods to apply after-sales service to your company to ensure clients are satisfied with the products and services of your business. Having outstanding after-sales customer service strengthens the bond between customers and a company.
After-Sales service, also called After-sales support, is any service provided to a customer after purchasing a product. After-sales service may be provided by a retailer, manufacturer, or a third-party customer service or training provider. With more loyal customers spreading the word of your company’s supreme service performance, efficient after-sales service may even transform into your company’s competitive advantage.

There are several players providing after sales services in the country. Despite many innovations in the area, utilities in an electronic gadget, for consumers, there is always the same old worry – what if the gadget gets damaged? 

Market Dynamics
We all know that customer service has become a key factor in finalising a smartphone purchase. Samsung was rated as the best after-sales service provider in India for years now. However, that’s changing as other brands are catching up on this front to gain consumer trust. The Counterpoint report highlights Oppo was the No.1 brand in customer satisfaction for after-sales service, followed by Vivo, Xiaomi and Samsung. The report named ‘Smartphone After-sales Service Study’ by Counterpoint also highlighted that customers spend an average amount of Rs 2,400 for servicing their out-of-warranty phones.

One in every four smartphone owners in Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai, Noida and Ahmedabad visit a service centre within six months of purchase. Customers are facing problems related to charging, software (hanging) and display. The survey has been conducted across Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Noida and Ahmedabad with 1,000 respondents who had taken an after-sales service from their respective smartphone brand.

So far the Indian after sales market is largely unorganized and a major chunk of consumers’ needs are catered to by their local servicemen. However, this is fast changing as many startups have joined this arena and started offering quite lucrative and reliable services using the latest technologies and by making it affordable.

Secondly, the consumer device protection market size is expected to touch $1.1 billion in FY24, other growth drivers will be on-demand repair services estimated to be worth $1 billion, home protection and AMC services estimated to be worth $1.2 billion and brand warranty and installation services at $2 billion, which makes the overall after-sales service market worth $5.3 billion in FY 24 in India.

 Experts say it is an interesting business to be in, Ecommerce firm Flipkart has quietly entered the home services business, starting with AC servicing, sources said. It is providing the service through Jeeves, an after-sales services company it acquired several years ago. The service is live in cities like Bengaluru and Kolkata and will be extended to other cities soon. Flipkart’s home services business is likely to also include washing machine repairs and other similar offerings going forward.

Aforeserve  - Aforeserve is a company offering after sales services to multiple products across verticals. This Noida based firm perhaps has the widest range of products to serve – from PCs, tablets, smartphones, scanners, printers, servers, networking switches, routers, STBs, ATMs and VSAT. It supports over half a million devices and addresses 87,000+ on-site service requests every month with a team of 4,000+  engineers, executives and support personnel.

 
The only repair service partner in India with a Summit SRT1800 Rework Station, the most advanced features designed specifically to address difficult Rework challenges. Aforeserve handles more than 55000 service calls every month, combining industry experience with superior repair capabilities and standardized support practices to assist individual and small-scale establishments as well as complex IT environments in large organizations to install, maintain, refurbish and dispose of their ICT assets in a cost-effective, efficient and viable manner.

B2X : B2X is a Munich, Germany based aftermarket player and primarily serves the tier-1 IT and communications brands. The company offers services for mobility devices, consumer electronics, home automation, urban mobility, payment solutions and digital health. B2X is a provider of managed post-sales logistics and service solutions for electronic products and critical technology infrastructures. It helps clients achieve scalable business growth by concepting, implementing and delivering bespoke and omni-channel customer and product service setups. These range from efficient deployment, onsite installation, remote technical support to efficient maintenance, return or break/fix operations.
The company’s India business supports three neighbouring countries – Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. The company has 237 frontend service locations and 12 backend repair centers. The firm employs around 900 employees to support these four markets. In these markets B2X serves customers of Apple, Samsung, Google, Microsoft and Xiaomi. 

GoWarranty : This is one more Mumbai-based after sales service firm. This company has a unique model – they specialise in offering extended warranty besides offering repair and services. They also claim to offer cashless service. Whether it is costs of repairs, labour, transportation, or taxes, GoWarranty covers all the charges associated with repairing the device.
GoWarranty offers coverage for Mobile, Tablets, Laptops, Cameras, Air Conditioners, Washing Machines, Televisions, and Small Appliances. The company offers Go Extended Warranty for up to 9 months after purchase of the devices and gadgets. The warranty can be taken for up to four years

IQor : iQor is one of the world’s biggest after-sales service providers. The company entered Indian space in 2015 and had announced to invest Rs 1300 crore over a period of 3 years and create employment for more than 20,000 people. At present the firm has more than 5000 people in India and a majority of them are located in the company contact center in Noida. iQor is a business process outsourcing company which provides customer service, third-party collections and accounts receivable management.
iQor perhaps is the only company in India to offer end to end aftermarket services to its customers. It simplifies and strengthens the security around your data with iQor’s best-in-class compliance, monitoring, and access controls. Multi-layered, highly invested protection for you and your customers.

F1 Info Solutions : F1 Info Solutions, one of India’s largest electronics service providers specialized chiefly in repair and refurbishment of mobile phones. F1 has 158 owned and franchised centers and employed close to 1,000 people who handle over 50,000 service calls every month across the country. F1 was engaged in the repair and servicing of mobile phones, thereby making them suitable to re-enter the market as refurbished goods. With one eye on the refurbishment market, Flipkart set about strengthening existing customer relationships. Flipkart, owned F1 offers repair services for mobile and electronics, will be an important differentiator in the smartphone sales battle with Amazon India
OnSiteGo: Onsitego is India’s leading after-sales service provider and offers Extended Warranty, Damage Protection, AMC Plans, and On-Demand Repair Services. It covers all electronic devices and home appliances. Its plans are widely available across retail stores and online marketplaces. Started business in 2010, the company claims to serve around 4.5 million customers in India and 1.2 lakh customers on a monthly basis. It works with some of the largest online and offline retailers in India like Croma, Vijay Sales, Amazon India and Ezone. 

 
Redington: Redington is one more big name in the Indian after sales services market. It has set up hardware support service centres across the country with  77 owned service centres, supported by a certified franchisee network of 266 service partners. Redington provides the full spectrum of warranty and post-warranty services including solution design and consulting, technical helpdesk, field engineering support, parts warehousing, Forward and Reverse logistics, Imports and -re-exports, and asset recovery. All these centres run on a robust CRM that enables them to tightly manage the end-to-end service life cycle and create a great customer experience.

Servify: Servify offers the world’s most advanced self-learning post-purchase service platform to deliver great customer experience. Integrating multiple partners of the post sales service ecosystem on a tech-driven unified intelligent platform, Servify provides Device Lifecycle Management Services for all devices that touch our daily lives.
The company provides Brand Authorised Protection Plans for OEMs that account for nearly 70% of smartphones sold in India. It claims to have over 900 million devices on its platform.
Started in 2015, India Headquartered Servify operates across 3 Continents with regional offices in the US, Canada, China, Middle-east, and Europe at present. It caters to 50+ ‘Brands’ across multiple verticals and works with a number of top device brands, retailers, distributors, insurers, service providers, and carriers across geographies.

TVS Electronics: TVS Electronics, from the TVS Group, is one more player in the after sales market. However, unlike others, TVS Electronics does not limit itself to just services of the products, rather it repairs as well as sells the refurbished products as well. Some of its refurbished products offer warranty of equal duration as the new product. Some of the key services that TVS Electronics offers include repair services, refurbishment services, managed services, e-auction services and extended warranty plans.
From a product perspective, the company offers services for all sorts of IT products including PCs and laptops, printers, telecom products including smartphones and feature phones, CCTVs, ATMs and PoS machines.

 Urban Company: Started as Urban Clap, the company has now changed its name to Urban Company. This is a new age service model built by this startup in 2016. The company, in an innovative model, has partnered with local mechanics and repair shops to offer after sales service to almost every electronics appliance including smartphones, ACs, TVs, washing machines and refrigerators. 

Going Forward: Studies suggest revenue share from new product sales has been on a declining path and margins on new equipment are typically less compared to those on after sales market. Post Covid era, experts believe, people have become more cautious in their spending and would prefer to hold on to their cash and spend on products that offer longer utility with no or little opex cost escalation. This means, after sales can help manufacturers offset their declining margins from new product sales.