Having recently been recognised as the UAE’s most popular anti-malware brand dominating the country’s consumer and retail sales according to the latest IDC report, Kaspersky Lab, a developer of security content management solutions says it’s not stopping at anything to achieve its ambition of being the number one endpoint security vendor in the region.
The Moscow headquartered vendor has come out on top as the most popular anti malware brand dominating the country’s retail sales with an overall market share of 37% by value and 38% by volume according to the latest IDC report about anti-malware solutions (AMS) retail channel in the UAE, KSA, Egypt and Pakistan.
According to IDC, a total of 900,000 antivirus products with an estimated value of US$6 million were sold across the UAE retail stores in 2009. To make a comparison, Saudi Arabia’s AMS retail channel market during the same period was worth $4 million on a 600,000 unit volume. In Egypt, the most populous market in the Middle East, the total value of the market is estimated at $1.5.
The aim of the study was to do an in-depth research of the retail channel for the AMS landscape and determine its overall structure, channel size by volume, value and segment type, key retailers share, product pricing and market shares of key vendors by value and volume.
Kaspersky Lab comfortably topped both market share categories by a margin of 11% and 6% from the second most popular vendor respectively.
Garry Kondakov, MD at Kaspersky Lab Eastern Europe Middle East and Africa (EEMEA), attributes the success the company has enjoyed in the Middle east consumer market to having a solid consumer focus and dedicated partner programmes that support the retail channel in the region.
Kondakov adds that in addition to solid retail channel commitment, Kaspersky prides itself with cutting edge technology and engineering excellence which are the hallmarks of the company’s solutions and everything it does. “Everything we do is centred around developing and delivering products that provide ultimate online security,” he says. “We pay lot of attention to building solid relationships with our retail partners who are taking care of sales of our products in the region. We try to expand their network and support them in every way.”
Kondakov says the company is thoroughly satisfied that it has emerged as the number one consumer brand in the AMS retail market sector in the UAE which is the Middle East’s biggest and most competitive. “We’re hoping to keep this momentum going and not relax on our laurels,” he says.
Kondakov says while in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, Kaspersky is currently number two in retail according to the study, he believes that the company has all the necessary means to improve its positions within a considerably short period of time.
The majority of AMS retail sales in the UAE are driven by customers buying solutions for their personal use. However, nearly 30% of the sales are focused towards business and company users.
Out of the business sales, around half of the sales are from small and medium business. Hypermarkets in the UAE contribute to over 20% of AMS sales in both value and volume, while electronic stores contribute over 25% to AMS sales in terms of value and volume.
Nearly 80% of all sales within the electronic stores in the UAE are for personal or individual users.
Tarek Kuzbari, MD at Kaspersky Lab, Middle East adds that the IDC report findings suggest that there is a vast untapped potential especially in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, the region’s biggest markets. Kuzbari says from the time Kaspersky decided to create a channel structure two years ago, the company has grown and enjoyed great brand awareness at both channel and end-user level. “The company will leverage the insights acquired from this study in order to develop a robust strategy to educate consumers in both markets about the risks associated with unprotected Internet surfing,” says Kuzbari. “The IDC study clearly indicates that there is a distinct lack of consumer awareness and we intend to address this gap because we feel it is our responsibility to do so as one of the region’s leading secure content management solutions vendor.”
Kuzbari adds that Kaspersky’s drive to protect the authorised channels by launching aggressive anti-grey marketing campaigns aimed at protecting customers from illegal and fake products has aided it in attaining this status. “Our paramount priority is the protection of our customers from buying illegally imported products and indirectly lending their support to pirates in this respect,” he says. “Now we are only activating codes designed for use within the Middle East region. Localised versions of the products ensure that buyers gain technical support and activation codes. Moreover, we have introduced boxes that include a territorial belonging identifier – a special line on the box in Arabic and English that specifies the region that the product is sold in, in addition to a scratch-card with a Middle East barcode,” he concludes.
Kaspersky Lab remains on track for growth as it eyes the number one slot in the antivirus security market globally. Regionally, the vendor is making significant inroads in the retail space. Reseller Middle East finds out how the antivirus vendor is luring the channel.
