Erfolgsstory: Fast Track

Fast Track is a Singapore trading company, who has been working with gsmExchange for more than three years now. At a a recent trade fair we have met up with the CEO Mr. Saravanan, and he was kind enough to give us an interview. We would like to share his thoughts and insights on the industry with all of our members.

First of all Saravanan, when was Fast Track set up?

We started trading back in 2002.

How did you get into the business?

At the time, I had an IT outsourcing business, but then having seen the tremendous growth in the mobile telecomms sector, I recognized the opportunity and decided to start up Fast Track.

By the way, what has happened to your IT outsourcing company?

Actually, it is still going well, but I'm not involved in its day to day operation. Incidentally, we have about seven IT consultants working for Nokia Singapore. So even this business is also somewhat involved in mobiles!

"We are committed both to our customers and suppliers. We have been around since 2002, and want to make sure that we will be around for a very long time to come."

And, can you give us a brief presentation of Fastrack today?

Yes, today Fast Track has reached 300 Million US Dollars annual Turnover. We have 20 employees in five locations; Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, India and Sri Lanka. Most of our sales come from these locations, and we are also trying to expand the business beyond International trade & wholesale. So, for example, we are in a joint venture in India to build a national retail chain; this is growing very fast and we already have over 100 shops.

So, you have come a long way since you first set up.. what do you think are the factors of your success?

Commitment! We are committed both to our customers and suppliers. We have been around since 2002, and want to make sure that we will be around for a very long time to come. Only way to do that is to be committed to our business partners; to provide the best service possible to our customers, and to ensure our suppliers are always comfortable and happy doing business with us.

gsmExchange has also been very useful in building our growth; throughout the years we have been working with the platform, gsmExchange provided us with up to date information on opportunities available in the market.

What marketing activities are you doing for Fast track at the moment?

We are participating in all of the major industry trade fairs, as exhibitors. This includes Cebit in Hanover and CTIA in Las Vegas. Other than that, we are present on trade magazines, and have also been present on gsmExchange for several years now with an ad.

You have been advertising on gsmExchange for the past few years now; how has that worked for you?

Advertising on gsmExchange has been key to our success and fast growth, in these past few years. We have found that as soon as we started our ad. on gsmExchange, the number of inquiries has increased substantially; moreover, the quality of these inquiries was very good.

"Advertising on gsmExchange has been key to our success and fast growth, in these past few years."

Can you give us some figures?

The way I look at it is that each new customer or supplier, can be worth 1 or 2 Million Dollars worth of Turnover/year. And, within the first 3 months of advertising, we managed to get at least 10 new trading partners with whom we actually continue to do business with.

Are you satisfied with how this is working out for you now?

As a return on investment, advertising with gsmExchange is second to none. The exposure, and ultimately the business we are gaining by being present on gsmExchange is a total success. We continue to be present on gsmExchange in order to strengthen the Fast Track brand within the industry and explore new markets. And this is for both getting new customers and new suppliers.

Speaking of suppliers; are you an official distributor for any major manufacturer?

We are an official Motorola distributor for 2 years now, and have been a Sony/Ericsson distributor for a year now.

The market is changing; any new trends that you have seen and would like to talk about?

Two product lines have come from nowhere to become very significant in this past year. Firstly, Blackberry: today we are doing 15% of our turnover on Blackberry: this confirms the emergence of Smartphones as a force to contend with. Secondly, high-end consumer phones from China.. we are doing 25% of our turnover with this type of phone. For a price which is far below 100$, we are able to source handsets, bursting with features such as TV, MP4, FM, touchscreen etc... for many consumers this is very attractive. Chinese manufacturers have a very flexible approach towards doing business; so they can adapt their product to the exact needs of our customers. On the other hand, due to high demand, many Chinese manufacturers have now reached an excellent level of maturity and reliability.

How about the major manufacturers; any comments there?

We feel that there may be a loss in market share for Nokia; this may be due to the fact that Nokia has not reacted quickly enough, in order to supply enough quantities and match the demand for its popular models. The exact opposite has taken place for its least popular models where supplies outstrip demand.