Mobile retail chain Hot Spot, a part of the Spice group, is expanding its product range with plans of launching its in-house brand of MP3 player, PlayStation and memory cards. All these products will be in the market in the next three months, and would be marketed under the Hot Spot brand. Having to compete with established players such as Samsung, Panasonic, Sony and Philips, the mobile retail chain is looking at competitive pricing to woo customers. “We intend to enter the complete personal mobility domain area with gaming, music and imaging products. Our in-house brands of MP3 player and other products will be priced 20-25 per cent lower than the market leaders,” Sanjeev Mahajan, chief executive officer, Hot Spot told Financial Chronicle.

In addition, Hot Spot also plans to launch an in-house brand of cameras and laptops in the near future. The company will source MP3 players, PlayStations and other products from China and Europe. Besides its in-house brands, Hot Spot also will sell other established brands in these product categories. Organised retail players such as Subhiksha Mobile, The Mobile Store and RPG Cellucom also sell other products in addition to mobile hand sets. “Margins are wafer thin in mobile handsets. Other products offer margins in excess of 50 per cent,” Mahajan said. According to industry estimates, 80 lakh mobile handsets are sold nationally per month.

In line with its marketing mantra, ‘Mobiles and More,’ Hot Spot plans to offer proprietary value-added services such as songs and video clips. It also is developing memory cards loaded with movies. To support its product expansion spree, the company has framed an aggressive retail strategy, and has earmarked investments of more than Rs 500 crore towards these plans.