'AI PCs are spreading like widlfire': Asus's festive strategy blends online, offline & quick commerce

Asus India is preparing for a strong festive season, combining aggressive product launches, online-offline integration, and quick commerce partnerships to tap into younger buyers and refresh customers.

Speaking to Business Today, Paramjeet Singh Mehta, Product and Marketing Head – Consumer PC and Gaming Business at Asus India, said the brand has seen significant success in bringing global launches to India without delay, giving it a first-mover advantage in high-end categories. “With the NVIDIA 5000 series, we were the first to enter and captured close to 80% of the market initially. Even now, we hold more than 60% share in this extremely premium segment,” he said. Some of the brand’s top-end GPUs now deliver over 900 trillion operations per second (TOPS), unlocking new possibilities for gaming and AI workloads.

Strong presence across sales channels

In regular quarters, Asus’s sales split stands at around 30% online, 20% organised trade, and 50% through its own brick-and-mortar stores. But festive shopping shifts the balance. “In quarter three, particularly around Diwali, the online share increases significantly because of offers and bundled experiences,” Mehta explained.

Asus has been an early mover in Indian e-commerce, entering Flipkart and Amazon in 2018–19. During the pandemic, this head start helped it secure the top spot in both gaming and creator PC categories. Today, the company continues to lead in segments such as gaming laptops, creator machines, and AI PCs. According to Mehta, younger customers are especially important: “We occupy 55% of the share among buyers below 30, which shows our affinity with Gen Z and late millennials.”

This festive season, Asus will also introduce new colour options in its Vivobook range after research revealed that 19% of Flipkart users would prefer experimenting with colours, a trend seen earlier in smartphones. Shades like salvia green and BFF pink gold will debut in India.

Expanding beyond metros with quick commerce

Asus has also tied up with quick commerce platforms such as Zepto and Swiggy Instamart to cater to smaller cities and towns, where demand is rising faster than in metros. “The hyperlocal logistics model helps us reach pin codes that traditional channels struggle with, especially during the festive rush,” Mehta said. Nearly 55% of buyers during the festive period are refresh customers looking to upgrade to the latest technology, and Asus expects quick commerce to play a key role in serving them.

Heavy investment in in-store experiences

The company continues to prioritise live demonstrations across its 300-plus exclusive stores, with more than 9,000 live devices available nationwide. Organised retailers such as Reliance Digital, Croma, and Vijay Sales also showcase Asus products, with 4–15 live demo devices per outlet. Even in smaller multi-brand stores, customers can interact with at least one Asus device.

To drive deeper engagement, Asus operates 22 ROGverse stores that function as free-to-use gaming zones, and 12 Creator stores equipped with professional software such as Adobe tools for content creation trials. Mehta said this approach allows customers to experience the devices as lifestyle products rather than simply hardware.

Making AI PCs affordable

AI-enabled Copilot+ PCs are a key focus area. Asus has launched devices starting at ₹60,000 with Qualcomm processors delivering up to 45 TOPS, making AI PCs more attainable for Indian buyers. “The lifestyle adoption of AI PCs is spreading like wildfire. Last year, this wasn’t a topic, but today customers walk in asking if specific applications can run on AI-powered devices,” Mehta noted.

The company is working with silicon partners to bring AI PCs into more mainstream price bands in 2025 while simultaneously expanding availability in smaller cities.

Support for both new buyers and upgraders

Asus caters to first-time buyers through live demos, 1,000 trained solution experts, and strong after-sales service. The company has 200-plus service centres and serves 14,900 pin codes, with 57% of customers opting for doorstep repair services.

For upgraders, Asus offers programmes such as assured buyback, where users who return a device within 91–365 days of purchase can receive up to 45% of the invoice value towards a new machine. “We bring the latest technology to market faster than competitors, so customers never have to wait long for an upgrade,” Mehta said.

Outlook

With its extensive offline presence, continued dominance in e-commerce, and new ventures into quick commerce, Asus is positioning itself to capture demand from both Gen Z buyers and seasoned gamers. As the festive season kicks in from mid-September, the brand is betting on AI PCs, gaming laptops, and fresh colour variants to strengthen its hold in India’s fast-growing consumer PC market.