We Want to Explore the Air-purifiers and Refrigerators Market in India – Truvison Director

Truvison is gearing up to offer a complete range of consumer electronics starting 2020. The company is aiming to reach Rs 400 crore business in the next fiscal year

Saurabh Kabra (SK), Director, Business Operations India, Truvison, in an exclusive conversation with Electronics For You, shared that the company is eyeing to reach a business of Rs 400 crore in the next fiscal year. He said, “Our target for this fiscal is to reach Rs 200 crore and for next fiscal we are eyeing Rs 400 crore since various new segments and products are being added in our basket.”

Kabra added that connected appliances are the future of consumer electronics industry. He strongly believes in the adoption of IOT, AI and ML.

Here are some excerpts from the conversation

Que 1 – How are Truvison products different from other brands?

SK – Indian consumers have become more aware of the advancements in technology and the trends. Keeping this in mind, we are focussing on building products tailored to their needs. We have also brought international technologies to the Indian market.

Be it our Cornea Technology in TV or TruAer Technology in AC, each of our products aims to enhance the lifestyle of the consumers. We aim to bring comfort and convenience to our consumers. Truvison is focussed on building the latest in technology at most prudent prices, if rightly put together ‘Making Luxury Affordable’.

Que 2 – Which categories are you present in India now? Which ones are you strongest in?

SK – Our product category comprises of LED TVs which includes HD, UHD and 4K TVs. We have brought several new technologies including voice assistance, power saver mode, etc. In addition, we have also extended our business to the audio category by launching Tower Speakers, 2.1, 4.1, etc.

Though speakers, have been a recent entrant we have gained a very strong foothold among the Markets. Another category includes AC’s with TruAER Technology, which has been added to our major focused verticals.. With the intersection of high-quality content, smart technology and powerful hardware to provide the most fulfilling and enriching entertainment experience to its users, Truvison’s portfolio brings everything under one roof. Having said that, TVs have been our focus area both internationally and in India.

Que 3 – Is Truvison planning to enter more consumer electronics verticals? Which ones and how soon?

SK – In a very short span of time, Truvison has established a very diversified portfolio in the Indian market. We do have plans to expand the verticals as well.

We are looking to explore the air purifiers and refrigerators market in India. We aim to be among the leading players in the consumer appliances segment in India in the next 10 years and are figuring out various categories that we will enter to become a complete player, contributing the maximum percentage of the market.

Our entry into mass cooling products is in line with this strategy and marks a significant expansion for the company. We are also looking to enter the appliances and purifier segments more aggressively. By 2020, we shall have a full range of consumer electronics under our umbrella.

Que 4 – How has been Truvison’s journey been in India so far? What are your targets for this and the next fiscal year?

SK – Truvison’s journey in India has been quite exciting. Today, the brand is known for its quality and design excellence, and is credited for its distinctive technology products in India. Ever since the beginning, our goal has been to offer the best quality products and solutions to our customers in terms of affordability, performance, quality and design. Our products today stand testimony to the brand vision we hold, right from the TVs which are designed with Cornea Technology that minimizes the strain to the eye to the TruAER Technology in ACs, our products have enabled the brand to bring international experience  to Indian consumers at affordable prices. We are proud of our progress.

The acceptance of the brand in the Indian market has enabled us to established a firm foothold in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in India. Today, we are available at over 500 hundred dealer locations plus offline platform with presence in over 32 cities.

Our target for this fiscal year is to reach INR 200 crore and we are eyeing INR 400 crore business in next fiscal year, with the addition of various new segments and products in our basket. We also aim to be India’s most trusted destination for consumer durables and probably amongst the top three consumer durable brands by 2025.

Que 5 – What is your take on the use of IOT and smart features in consumer electronic products? Do you think smart and connected products are the future?

SK – India currently is at the apex of digital revolution. Currently, the TV market has already started adapting IOT and smart features to a certain extent. Air conditioners and audio devices are following suit.

IoT technology in the field of education is at a preliminary stage in India. But things will change soon, and these smart and connected products will become the future of this nation.

Que 6 – What are the challenges that you see in the Indian Consumer Electronics Industry? What is your strategy to address these challenges?

SK – We faced lack of recognition in the early days. It was a big challenge for us to beat the renowned competitors who had already established a strong presence in the country as well as the short-lived disruptive brands.

But like they say ‘the bigger the challenge, the bigger the opportunity’. We eventually overcame all these challenges by giving better quality to our customers at affordable prices. Our strategy remains very clear ‘to stick to our basic root core cause of giving premium quality products at affordable prices’ and take judicious decisions with time to optimize the brand in the long run.

Que 7 – Do you follow any criteria before adding a retailer, direct dealer or re-seller in your network? How strong is your sales network at the moment?

SK – The criteria is a combination of bandwidth, skill set and experience. Also, as per the geographies, we aim to focus on the best network at each and every location which can maximize re-seller presence in their zone. Our sales network is getting stronger every month and we are expanding our presence in untapped markets too.

Que 8 – Which Indian regions are you strongest in? Where will you be adding more people in your sales channel in India?

SK – As India grows economically, its rising purchasing power has naturally made its emerging cities (Tier II and Tier III Cities) promising, which currently is largely untapped. Truvison has already set its focus on these untapped markets with a strong distribution network.

We are actively charting appropriate strategies and communication tools to cater to them. Truvison holds a strong foothold in the South and West and have also gained a prominent presence in the Northern region. We would add more sales channel in the existing areas of our business to bring a stronger area of growth.

Que 9 – What’s your focus on at the moment – Online or Offline sales and why?

SK – We have always been an offline brand, however, we are now also exploring the online space. The offline channels continue to enjoy significant lead over the online medium due to its greater penetration and reach. With consumer markets in tier-1 geographies approaching saturation, businesses across industry verticals are now looking at meeting the demand in rural, semi-urban and tier- 2/tier-3 markets.

Offline networks rule the roost in these geographies as the most preferred mode of distribution and account for nearly 75 per cent of the overall market share in India. This makes it essential for brands in the country to leverage more conventional channels in order to gain a larger market share.

A major advantage that offline enables is that they offer prospective customers a rich experiential interaction with the product in question. Consumers can touch and feel the product, which helps in building trust and confidence with the brand and is known to play a major role in influencing the final purchase decision.

In sync with the ongoing trends, we want to be in the vision of the current customers as well as future customers. The brand very recently has explored online space and has collaborated with the strong online partners to help us maximize the outreach for our products.

Que 10 – Why should businesses join your sales network? What are the benefits and average margins you offer?

SK – India is a vast country and there is an endless diversification in the needs and preferences. As a result, it becomes very difficult to make a strong hold in the market. At Truvison, we focus to instill trust in our consumers by delivering innovative and reliable products.

The businesses should join our sales network because of the transparency within the system, strong commitment and deliverance of excellent quality products to the end consumers at a very reasonable price. The margins that we offer are higher than the current industry offerings to the trade.

Que 11 – What’s your approach towards the service network? What do you prefer, door-to-door service or do you follow servicing through brand centres?

SK – Before going aggressive on the sales network, we as a team laid the foundation of service network which is the most vital thing in this industry. Every contact customer will have with Truvison is an opportunity for us to improve the reputation and increase the likelihood of further sales.

Considering this importance, we have an established back-end with on-call service – 24 hours assistance that keeps the consumer’s worry at bay. We also have an online customer grievances cell and chatbot to address the immediate concerns. We shall focus on brand centres in future, not immediately.

Brand experience and exclusive stores are in our core plan as well. We are slowly moving towards this arena in a very strong way.