Increasing demand for accessories from consumers and their easy availability in India have helped the market to grow. New vendors specializing in IT and telecom accessories are coming to the country to explore the potential here. The scenario is improving every passing day and there is scope for more branded players to participate as customers now aspire for better quality products and they are ready to pay higher amount as well.
Today, accessories have become an integral part of the product for many consumers, and they do not mind spending Rs 5,000-Rs 10,000 on accessories. Vendors have given end-users a lot of options in terms of products and pricing, due to which they are willing to make reasonable investments.
What has increased interest among consumers is the fact that MNCs have come up with innovative products such as Bluetooth keyboards and mice, power pack cases for iPhones and smart phones, dual-purpose utility products, protective cases, protective screens and smart phone cases with built-in projectors, power bank, etc.
With elevating popularity for smartphones and other mobile devices in the country, there is also increasing demand for mobile accessories. Mobile device adoption among youth population in the country and continual decline of prices of mobile phones are the impetus to the growth of mobile accessory market in India. Online retailing also plays a big part. It offers the convenience of cash-on-delivery payment option and cheaper offers.
Mobile accessory companies are provided with flexibility of choosing the best suited sales and distribution channel, thanks to the abundant national distributors and plenty of regional and micro distributors and wholesalers across India. Companies can focus on specific states or cities or market their products to retail stores across the country.
Smartphone and tablet adoption in rural areas is still low largely due to budgetary constraints and low adaptability to complicated devices. Approximately 70% of India’s population resides in rural areas and majority of the wireless consumers there use basic mobile phones. Consumers in these parts do not indulge in mobile accessories purchase much. In such situation, mobile accessory companies are largely dependent on the urban and suburban consumption.
Both domestic and foreign mobile accessory companies face tough competition from unbranded products, especially the ones imported from China. Due to large number of mobile accessory manufacturers in China, huge amounts of Chinese products are easily available in the grey markets and local stores. A significant number of consumers find these easily available accessories affordable and attractive.
But there is a huge disparity in the mobile accessory market with several brands competing for market share owing to Chinese manufacturing infrastructure.
Mobile accessories are also considered a style statement today and brands are focusing on making them trendy and attractive. While different colored accessories add to the variety we see in the market, blacks and whites are preferred over variety. Accessories for Apple, Samsung, Sony and Nokia are in high demand. Given the nature of mobile accessories, bundling is an attractive option for manufacturers.
Current Scenario
India holds immense opportunities for mobile accessory products due to enormous number of mobile device users and rapid growth in the adoption of smart phones and tablets.
According to Rajesh Doshi of Zebronics, the outlook for IT and mobile accessories market in India is extremely upbeat; it is largely following the global trend and is increasingly driven by the rapid adoption of mobile technologies. It has been reported that 79% of the Indian population are either owning or using a mobile device. Nowadays, smart phones and tablets are becoming common and these are not just voice-communications devices any more. With over 70% daily users of mobile Internet being in the 20-34 years age group, the young have taken to mobility in a big way, as a sort of digital revolution, by which people are carrying their choice of music and videos in small portable devices, using social media on-the-go and generating or downloading rich media content all the time. Easy availability of Internet has added to this factor. As a result, there is a great demand for such accessories as portable and desktop speaker systems, protective covers, headphones, keyboard, etc for phones, tablets and laptops. For instance, with multiple gadgets in the pocket, the mobile battery pack has almost become a necessity for those never want to be stranded with a phone that is out of battery. From vanity to utility, the range is varied.
“The Indian market has been introduced to a host of new devices and technologies. Accessories are not mere enhancements anymore but have become an important utility today. They protect, improve performance, make devices look good and add value to everyday use. Most importantly, accessories like the USB drives, SD Cards and Wireless Readers are becoming a necessity nowadays for many users. The accessory market looks good and is growing at a steady rate. Keeping with the trend, Kingston has entered the gaming accessories market with the HyperX Cloud gaming headset for laptops, desktops, consoles and even mobiles and tablets,” said, Vishal Parekh, Marketing Director, Kingston.
“We expect Indian PC-peripheral market to grow @ 4-5% p.a. India has a very big potential in the tier 3/4 cities segment, where there is increase in demand and the tremendous growth opportunity. As far as smart phone accessories go, India is among the top 5 importers of smart phones globally and would be among the top 3 in the coming years. This has given a great push and positive perspective to smart phone accessories business,” said, Gaurav Mathur, Country Business Head (India), Genius.
“The Indian peripherals market is expected to continue to expand to meet local demand. High growth areas like telecommunications, banking & financial services, manufacturing, retail and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)/IT-enabled services are the major consumers of computers and peripherals. As is the case with overall IT market, the accessory industry is dynamic and constantly innovating. Earlier concentrated solely on PCs & laptops, peripherals/ accessories are now being developed for tablets too. The customer today has much variety to choose from the IT peripherals and accessories and the market in India continues to grow at a fast rate providing huge opportunity for retailers in the country to add on peripherals or accessories with every PC, Laptop, Tablet or smart phone sold. Envent caters to all these categories and our focus is not constrained to just one product, rather our objective is to provide innovative product range with international standards. Today consumer demand is not only restricted to quality and price point but has become color specific as well. Hence almost all our products are available in multiple attractive colors,” said, Sukhesh Madaan – Founder & CEO, Envent World Wide.
Richard Tan, Managing Director, ADATA Technology, India, said, “Indian Market is very dynamic while the telecom segment is the most dynamic, versatile and competitive industry currently. Mobile accessory products have an immense business market share in India due to increasing adoption of mobile devices among youth population in the country which is propelled by increasing disposable incomes, which has revolutionized the consumers’ buying and spending trend, especially in the urban areas. Online retailing is also increasing rapidly.”
“The scope for branded players in the mobile accessories market is increasing day-by-day as customers now aspire for better quality products and they are ready to pay higher amount as well. Though the accessories market is dominated by grey market without bill, brand and warranty, the market is showing signs that more and more people are gradually moving towards good quality branded products,” said, Puneet Gupta, Head of India and SAARC, Santok Ltd.
“Accessories market is on the upswing and is growing faster than the phone market. There are many brands offering unique features. In fact, there are many designs and huge variety of accessories available from various brands that suit the young generation,” said, Rajesh Goenka, VP–Sales & Marketing, Rashi Peripherals Pvt Ltd.
“Accessories market is in the rapid growth stage now along with smart phones, in India. Mobile covers, scratch guards, power banks, Bluetooth speakers, etc are some of the major products driving the growth,” opined Jasmeet Singh Sethi, Director of Portronics India.
“India holds immense opportunities for accessory products due to enormous number of device users and rapid growth in adoption of smart phones and tablets. Continual decline of prices of devices is primarily aiding this growth. Accessories complement the devices and enhance their usage-value and features. With the increasing popularity of smart phones and other mobile devices, the demand for accessories from consumers across India has increased manifold,” asserts, Raymond Li, Sales Head–APAC, Astrum Holdings Ltd.
“The revolution brought in by the digital technology has propelled the consumer electronics market towards rapid growth, healthy competition and profits. After suffering a rare dip of sales in 2010, accessory market has boomed and bounced back for smart phone accessories such as headphones and wireless range of products. Fuelled by favorable consumer demographics, this market is all set for the sustained growth over a long term,” concluded, Sunil Srivastava, Country Marketing Manager at RAPOO India.
Responses from the market
According to Vishal of Kingston Technology, Kingston believes in providing the best value to the customers. We not only compete at price points and performance but also in innovating. With increasing number of uses, we showcased a USB drive that can be used with smart devices–the DataTravelermicroDuo–and the Indian market has appreciated this beyond our expectations. Next, we introduced our UHS-1 U3 SDA3 SD Cards with speeds of up to 90MB/s that perfectly complement today’s high speed cameras. As a smart phone user, one does not have to worry about the file size of the photo or downloading data especially when they use the Kingston microSD cards that provide capacities up to 128GB. Also, as mentioned earlier, we are now entering the gaming accessories market in a big way with our HyperX Cloud gaming headset and this move has been appreciated by many.
“Under our Zebronics brand we have various accessories like Bluetooth range, as the wireless products are much easier to use and connect. We have multiple models of Bluetooth headsets to choose from, we also have wide range of Bluetooth speakers with call feature. These are really liked by the channel and the consumers. Looking at the success of these wireless speakers we also have plans to launch NFC speaker in the market, which will be first of its type in the market. We also have Bluetooth keyboard for people who like to work on-the-go on their tablets or phones,” said, Rajesh of Zebronics.
“Genius offers products across 14+ categories of accessories including mouse, keyboard, speaker, headset, webcam, camera, DVR, power bank, bags, gaming, projectors, notebook stand, stylus and many more. India is a value-driven market and Genius, with its One-Stop-Shop value offerings for all consumer accessories. Our products have been able to do get tremendous customer attention which reflects in our sales growth YOY,” said, Gaurav of Genius India.
“Envent is specialized in 3 different product verticals: IT Peripherals, Telecom Accessories and Lifestyle Extras. With more than 100 SKUs spread across categories, all our products are trendy and innovative, designed to appeal to today’s youth. In IT category, we have peripherals both for PC & Notebook and a range of speakers starting from Rs 800 to 14,000. In telecom our product range caters to users of iPhone, iPad& Samsung smart phone and in lifestyle category we have a variety of headphones, Bluetooth headsets, sports MP3 players and innovative speakers. Apart from these 3 broad categories, we have one set of products solely for corporate clients like Toothbrush/ Razor sanitizer, Oxygen Bar, Solar Lamp, Solar MP3 player, designer speakers, etc,” says, Sukesh of Envent.
Richard of A-Data claims, “ADATA has a range of products in the accessories segment. Although the core strength has been storage wherein we provide a wide variety of USB flash drives, external HDDs, memory cards, etc. In the recent past, we have forayed into Wi-Fi HDDs to give users a chance to seamlessly stream their content on the TV wirelessly. Power banks and wireless mobile chargers are the other 2 product categories that we have introduced recently and have been getting overwhelming response from the channel and consumer communities. The reasons for our success are manifold–the first and foremost being the quality followed by wide range of models, channel availability, warranty support, etc.”
“We provide all high quality innovative and latest accessories where-in we are getting positive response from all our customers. We have categorized the accessories into Power, Protection, Bluetooth, Music/ Audio, iPhone/ iPad, Data and Holders,” said, Puneet of Santok.
“Rashi distributes Logitech, Targus, HP and Plantronics accessories products and each of these brands is positioned differently for specific verticals. For Plantronics, we are focusing on the Bluetooth category and headsets. Plantronics Bluetooth is the largest selling (unbundled) Bluetooth in India. The Voyager Legend is an amazing product and is the fastest selling in the country. I am sure anyone uses this product for a day will become a lifetime member of Plantronics,” said, Rajesh of Rashi Peripherals.
“We are mainly providing Power banks and portable speakers in the mobile accessories segment along with some travel chargers,” added, Jasmeet of Portronics.
“RAPOO is all about wireless comforts! RAPOO is known for the innovative and high design products with wireless technology. Our Bluetooth speakers, headphones, mice and keyboards are well accepted in the market. We strive to bring in new products that match the current trend with latest technology, advanced features, multi-purpose and vibrant colors that suit all the age groups. We notice that our competitors and erstwhile market leaders today calibrate their GTM strategy keeping in mind what RAPOO is likely to do,” claimed, Sunil of Rapoo India.
“Astrum has a range of accessories for Notebooks and Mobile phones. Mobile device adoption amongst youth population in the country and the spending pattern have boosted the growth of mobile accessories like MFI certified cables, Bluetooth headsets, Bluetooth speakers, travel chargers and many more,” concluded, Raymond of Astrum Holdings.
Challenges Ahead
“As in the case of all technology products, accessories market is evolving at a fast pace. You have to move with this rapidly changing technology. It becomes very difficult to invest in the “research & development” and “quality control” of these products as products become obsolete quickly. We aim to offer good value, performance, premium quality and after-sales service, even though it becomes a challenge to do so at reasonable prices. With long experience, our business model has now become structured so that we are able to offer all those,” said, Rajesh of Zebronics.
“Industry challenge, specifically talking about smart phone accessory business, would be from a lot of low quality products that are being dumped in the Indian market. Smart phone accessory market is a newly developing market and everybody wants to cash in on the enormous demand, by importing low cost/low quality products and dumping them in the Indian market. We can also see a lot of white brands in the market with low cost/low quality as they don’t have any overhead cost of R&D (quality and product development), no warranty, no RMA support service, irregular supply of products and change in product models due to frequent changes in OEM factories, etc. However, we have been into business for more than 30 years and have experienced these changes and market trends. We are very positive that with the fast changing Indian import regulations, we’ll see a change in market trend and only quality & established suppliers would survive in the long run,” said, Gaurav of Genius.
“Major portion of this highly dynamic market is still unorganized which results in frequent price wars. Moreover different government regulations and variable tax percentages in different markets give tough challenge to shaping an effective pricing strategy for whole India. Product parity becomes another challenge in accessories segment. Most brands push products and multiple layered retail system lowers the bottom line of the brands,” said, Sukesh of Envent.
“We face tough competition from unbranded products, especially ones imported from China. Due to large number of mobile accessory manufacturers in China, huge amounts of Chinese products are easily available in the grey markets and local stores. A significant number of consumers find these easily available accessories affordable and attractive. Secondly, inventory management becomes an issue as some big launches do not do well in market and accessories also suffer,” said, Richard of ADATA.
“Accessories market is too crowded with many unknown brands. Also, there are enough fakes available which makes the market difficult,” added, Rajesh of Rashi Peripherals.
“We are still struggling to have our presence felt in tiers 2 and 3 cities where the impact is yet to be felt. Online pricing control is another challenge that we are currently working on. Direct entry of Chinese players and cheaper imports are some of the other challenges that we have to deal with,” said, Jasmeet of Portronics.
“Both domestic and foreign mobile accessory companies face tough competition from unbranded products, especially the ones imported from China. Due to large number mobile accessory manufacturers in China, huge amounts of Chinese products are easily available in the grey markets and local stores,” said, Raymond of Astrum.
“Increase in demand has caused increased competition in this category. Dollar volatility, increase in price wars due to the entry of new fringe players in the market and rise in manufacturing capacity by some manufacturers are causing dip in the profitability and margins are adversely affected. In the current scenario, these are the major challenges we are facing collectively,” point out Sunil of Rapoo.
“India is a growing country and so is its demand for mobile accessories. In this vast country, meeting the demand criteria is a challenge but we are working towards it,” concluded, Vishal of Kingston Technology.
Fake Brands in the Market
“Fake products are a problem in many countries of Asia and India is not an exception. Having said that, we believe that the Indian consumer is one of the most sensible in the world and has greatly matured over the last decade. Customers do their homework by visiting blogs, review sites, ask friends and family and evaluate a brand based on performance, quality and price. Therefore, we do not see a major threat from counterfeit products. The customers we are targeting is well aware and want the best quality product at an affordable price, which is what Genius stands for in India,” said, Gaurav of Genius India.
“We are extremely proud and confident about our Zebronics brand in terms of quality and value. We have a loyal consumer and channel partner base who value the product quality and warranty provided by the company. We believe in giving the consumers the best experience of owning a product. Today’s Indian youth is smart and intelligent and do think twice before making the decision. So, fake brands cannot influence the decisions of informed consumers. Zebronics undoubtedly gives the best return for their money. As not only quality, design and value, but service support also gives Zebronics an added advantage over others. There is a difference between being cheap/fake and being value for money brand. Customers look for Zebronics because it is value for money brand,” said, Rajesh of Zebronics.
“Kingston believes in providing quality products that add value to the lives. We encourage our customers to make an informed purchase decision and have been educating them to buy only from our authorized partners. This gives assurance about worth, durability, quality, performance and warranty of the product. There are lower quality products available in the market but the customers do realize the risks they getting into,” said, Vishal of Kingston Technology.
“It is true that there are lots brands who market a range of low quality accessories at unethical prices and it is really hampering the whole market. But once considered as Impulse Buying Products, accessories are now getting more attention from customers before they reach any purchase decision. Be it apparel accessories or IT/Telecom accessories, people are ready to spend that extra money for good quality. Hence, gradually this category is shifting from commodity market to consumer market and the brands which really invest in quality and innovation, will get the result in near future,” opines, Sukesh of Envent.
“This is nothing but a transition of markets that happen whenever new category of products or technology invades the customer’s life. Today people may opt for cheaper products but once they come to know the products that are slightly higher in price but offer loads of added value, they gradually opt these over fakes. We, as a brand, just not only need to create awareness about the brand but also on the various USPs and features that the product carries,” said, Richard of ADATA Technology.
“Fakes are omnipresent in the market, but at the same time business of the good products and brands is improving. We at Rashi along with our partners and retailers are working on Customer Education and request ‘Mobility Magazine’ to help in the same,” said, Rajesh of Rashi Peripherals.
“Cheap quality and cheap price have been always there in India for ages in all the segments but now cheap prices for good quality is something catching on,” said, Jasmeet of Portronics.
“Yes, it’s true and we believe that the all good brands are facing this fakes problem. We really need to educate the users that buying fakes or low quality products does not help them to save money but they are booking a big loss since these fake accessories can spoil their parent devices,” said, Raymond of Astrum.
“Fakes and counterfeits will always come and go. They cater to the near-bottom of the market pyramid and the larger brands like us cannot address that segment. Customers need to know where to put money for better quality products and quality service for better digital experience. On our part, we conduct customer awareness activities through our various direct and indirect marketing initiatives,” concluded, Sunil of Rapoo India.
Future Trends & Plans of Vendors
One of the key factors contributing to the growth of the Accessories and Peripherals market is the smart phone and tablet accessory section. Report says global Accessories and Peripherals market for smart phones will grow at a CAGR of 9.1 percent and for tablets it will grow at a CAGR of 39.9 percent over the period 2013-2018. The Global Accessories and Peripherals market for smart phones and tablets has also been witnessing changing consumer behavior and India is no different. With the change in lifestyle, today people are always on the move, travelling miles and across the cities; the need of products which can entertain them, keep them engaged is rising like never before. Power banks, battery boost cases, car chargers, MP3 players, Bluetooth keyboards, etc are the need of the hour. However, the product parity stands as a challenge to the growth of this market. Which is why, today brands are trying to connect with the customers as directly as possible.
“We are quite optimistic from the market in 2014. Different studies of economic experts say that Indian economy has already experienced the bottom and now the only way is to go up. Recent budget also opens lots of hope towards the growth of IT industry as a whole. In 2012 & 2013, we put in all our efforts to get the distribution structure in place and now this year we are quite hopeful of getting rewarded for the same. This year, our target is to reach out to as many as 250 cities across India covering all untapped markets. Also we are on the verge of having few more key LFRs operating across India,” said, Sukesh of Envent.
“We have developed a whole range of power backups. Every month we launch a new product in this line. Powerview is our brand. We have whole range powerbanks, whole range of power charges, whole range of cables for connectivity. We have ultra thin power banks of 2500 mAh. Here major point is the thin size offers comfort in portability. We provide all connectors,” said, Rajiv of Amkette.
“This market is good and shows a positive picture. With better devices and systems lined up in the coming six months, we expect the accessories market to yield well. Kingston is a brand name that channel partners trust. We have been strong in this segment and we are only going to grow from here on. We are positive about our outlook towards this market and have just recently entered the gaming accessories segment as well,” said, Vishal of Kingston Technology.
“Wireless accessories show a lot of promise in near future. As they are becoming more and more affordable, wireless accessories will be more popular. From speaker, headphone, keyboard to charging accessories, all are moving to wireless medium. To tap this market, we are going to launch many new products in this segment. We are very committed to this market and going to launch many new innovative and class leading products in this segment. Prime example of this is the NFC-enabled speaker which we are going to launch in coming few weeks. We see ourselves sticking to our core value proposition of best possible product value at reasonable price. As the market shifts, we will also be doing the same: adding categories with mobility-related focus,” claimed, Rajesh of Zebronics.
“India is amongst the top 5 importers of smart phone globally and going forward would be amongst the top 3. Therefore, the future for accessories market in India is definitely mobile devices. We see an immense opportunity in offering accessories for smart phones and tablets in going ahead and in keeping up with the trend, we have already launched our mobility accessory portfolio for India market which includes headphones, headsets, speakers, power banks and many more, with focus on Bluetooth- & NFC technology-based products. We want to be among the top 3 players in the PC and smart phone accessories market in the next 3 years. Our brand-positioning as a value for money brand that serves as a one-stop-shop for all consumer accessory needs, coupled with our innovative products would help us achieve our vision. We have a wide array of innovative products slated for launch including our Pro Gaming series GX GAMING for the Indian gaming consumers,” said, Gaurav of Genius India.
“The demand for wireless mobile accessories shows no signs of slowing down, with recent studies by market analysts such as IMS Research predicting that Bluetooth headsets will surpass the 45 million unit mark by 2015. We have noticed several trends among wireless audio accessory consumers. More people are listening to music on portable devices and there is a marked trend towards music streaming. This was confirmed in recent research conducted by Nielsen, which indicates that more teenagers are listening to music streamed through YouTube than through any other source. We strongly believe that in the time to come, ADATA will be prominently present and increase its footprint in the accessories market. With the ever growing demand for accessories due to increased usage of computing devices, this segment is all set to grow manifold in the coming years,” asserts, Richard of ADATA.
According to Puneet of Santok, “Currently there is no specific data even from GFK but still considering the imports done from China, Korea, etc, the accessories market is booming each month and more innovations are taking place in this sector. Most top mobile brands have some way or the other have started providing accessories. The scope is huge as the sales are increasing month on month and this shows in our sales trend as well. We are growing every month and will ensure that we keep on innovating and launching new products, for example, we are ready for most anticipated IPHONE-6 accessories and we would always keep pace with market. We will be among the top 3 respected brands in accessories by the end of 2015 and we want to see ourselves at the top by 2017.”
“Rashi will be a formidable player but strictly in the branded space with good quality and features in the products. We are working towards continuous improvement,” said, Rajesh of Rashi Peripherals.
“More and more Internet of things is something that we will see in future. Health monitoring is also one area that will get onto the bandwagon as we have already seen Apple getting into the same domain. Smart home solution is also something that will see a significant growth in the market. We see ourselves pioneering different accessories in Indian market and also keep our positioning intact in the commodity products like portable speakers and power banks,” said, Jasmeet of Portronics.
“The growing convergence of information, communication and entertainment is bringing a new era. Growing market demand due to tremendous technological development and rising income levels has influenced the sales of accessories. The kick off of 4G in rural areas will help to increase the demand as approximately 70% of India’s population resides in rural areas and majority of the wireless consumers there use basic mobile phones. Consumers in these parts do not indulge in mobile accessories purchase much. In such situation, mobile accessory companies are largely dependent on the urban and suburban consumption. Although unbranded grey market products are dominating at present, with competitive pricing and availability, moving ahead majority of the market can potentially belong to branded mobile accessories,” said, Raymond of Astrum.
“Customers are asking questions. And that’s a welcome sign for brands like RAPOO. Consumers are increasingly becoming more aware of the product specifications, style and looks. The future of the accessory market depends on the amount of R&D the brand is investing and how well they satisfy their customers by introducing more and more value-added and trendy products. RAPOO is dedicated to offering excellent, cutting-edge wireless peripheral products to users around the world. Our goal is to deliver quality products to our customers and to provide the best service. With the top-of-the-line R&D we possess, we can project ourselves better than what we are now in this competitive environment,” concluded, Sunil of Rapoo India.
USP of Vendors
“Kingston, as a brand, does not draw direct comparisons with competition. We believe in the quality, durability, pricing, service and the better overall experience that we bring to the end user. Along with that, we cater to customers at all levels – corporate, students, casual, gaming, etc. We are No. 1 in the memory space globally and also lead in storage and our products justify this beautifully,” said, Vishal of Kingston Technology.
“Our brands are world-leading brands and the quality thus is better than others. Our USPs are great brands (accessories brands need to have a flaunt value), great products with unique features and they offer great customer experience. Rashi has probably the widest range of accessories in the mobile and IT category,” claimed, Rajesh of Rashi Peripherals.
“Our solutions and innovations are consumer-centric; we focus on consumer needs. We go back and address those needs. And that is our DNA. That is how we have been since our inception. Our products give value for money at affordable prices. Recently one of our products won an award from a famous media. There we gave live demonstration of our product before the jury. Our products are time-tested, and performance-proven and are liked internationally. We have convergence products across the 4 –screens of TV, tablets, laptops and PCs. Soon we are coming up with products for the tiny screens of small devices. Our strategy is connecting these devices seamlessly. We have products for all these devices. We have unique products for each category. For TV category we have EVOW TV. A year back we entered the mobility segment. In this we have two segments: one is audio for mobility. For this we created a new company. This mainly focuses on audio for the smart generation. The other segment is mobility accessories,” said, Rajiv Bapna, Director, Amkette.
“Our Moto is to provide the best quality solutions at the right prices. We are mainly known for innovative designs and ease of use in the market. Our products are easily affordable though not the cheapest in the market,” said, Jasmeet of Portronics.
“We provide the best value-for-money products. Our effort is to offer our customers the best in design, aesthetics, production quality and performance possible for a price point, and support with after-sales and service. We have more than 100 service centres operating country-wide (several in the tier-2 and tier-3 locations), which I would say, is a very unique proposition for a vendor. This has been done to gain consumer confidence in the Zebronics brand. Moreover, it provides an assurance to our 12,000-strong and loyal partners network that we are committed to long-term business and are here to stay,” claimed, Rajesh of Zebronics.
“Genius products represent cutting-edge technology, design innovation, superior quality and affordability. With 1300+ patents to its credit including the invention of the ‘Scrolling’ technology and the ‘OPTO – Touch scrolling’ technology for the mouse, Genius has always raised the bar with every new product, year after year. Our biggest USP is being able to anticipate market trends and consumer needs long before any other player and come with innovative and affordable products, which is just right for the consumers,” asserts, Gaurav of Genius India.
“Customers doesn’t buy products, they just buy benefits which can fulfill their need. Moreover it’s the brand credibility which helps the customers to conclude on purchase decision. Envent has established itself as a Great Quality & Innovative brand. It hasn’t been a cake walk for us and every-day we keep on exploring possibilities to increase the differentiating factors in our brand,” said, Sukesh of Envent.
“We strongly believe in coming out with the best of the product lines irrespective of any comparison with any other brand/product. We invest a substantial part of revenues in R&D for product innovation and design. Just to cite an example, our power banks offer 6 innovative features that may be missing in the other run of the mill products available,” claimed, Richard of ADATA.
“We are excellent in terms of quality when compared with any brand in the market. We are competitive in terms of pricing our products less expensive compared to OEMs. We provide best innovation in all our accessories and that is what differentiates us from other players. We don’t consider ourselves as simple accessory product provider but a solution provider,” said, Puneet of SANTOK.
“Astrum offers quality products at affordable prices. Our real users are the right persons to talk about comparison, however, we being a brand have certain quality analysis process which includes real-time certification and reports with which we ensure our customers get the best quality products,” concluded, Raymond of Astrum.
At Last
Indian Market is very dynamic but Telecom is the most dynamic, versatile and competitive industry. The changes are so fast-paced that new inventions suddenly become obsolete. New handsets are launched every week and they accessories that match them. Though the industry has evolved, there are very few established Accessory companies in India and the market share of the established players is still not limited. Absence of government policies to check the without-bill products, it is making life miserable for quality accessories companies.
Mr. Vishal Parekh, Marketing Director, Kingston
“Kingston believes in providing quality products that add value to the lives. We encourage our customers to make an informed purchase decision and have been educating them to buy only from our authorized partners.”
Mr. Rajesh Doshi, Director, Zebronics
“Our brand is well recognized in the market and we have consistently been winning awards in various categories and segments over the years. Zebronics remains the leading choice in the “value for money” segment – price-conscious buyers too want a well designed, better quality product.”
Mr. Gaurav Mathur, Country Business Head (India) , Genius
“The industry’s challenge, specifically talking about smart phone accessory business, would be from a lot of low quality products that are being dumped in the Indian market. Smart phone accessory market is a newly developing market and everybody wants to cash in on the enormous demand, by importing low cost/quality product and dumping them in Indian market.”
Mr. Sukhesh Madaan – Founder & CEO, Envent World Wide.
“Customers do not buy products; they just buy benefits which can fulfill their needs. Moreover it’s the brand credibility which helps the customers to conclude on purchase decision. Envent has established itself as a Great Quality & Innovative brand. It hasn’t been a cake walk for us and every-day we keep on exploring possibilities to increase the differentiating factors in our brand.”
Mr Richard Tan, Managing Director –ADATA Technology, India
“We face tough competition from unbranded products, especially the ones imported from China. Due to large number of mobile accessory manufacturers in China, huge amounts of Chinese products are easily available in the grey markets and local stores.”
Mr Puneet Gupta, Head of India and SAARC, Santok Ltd
“We are growing every month and will ensure that we keep on innovating and launching new products, for example, we are ready for most anticipated IPHONE-6 accessories and we would always keep up the pace with market.”
Mr. Rajesh Goenka, VP- Sales & Marketing, Rashi Peripherals Pvt Ltd
“Accessories market is on the upswing and is growing faster than the phone market. There are many brands offering unique product features. In fact, there are many designs suited to the young generation and there is a huge variety of accessories now available for various brands. “
Mr. Jasmeet Singh Sethi, Director of Portronics India
“We are still struggling to have our presence felt in tiers 2 and 3 cities where the impact is yet to be felt. Online pricing control is another challenge that we are currently working on. Direct Chinese players entry and cheaper imports are some of the other challenges that we have to deal with.”
Mr. Raymond Li , Sales Head – APAC, Astrum Holdings Ltd
“The growing convergence of information, communication and entertainment is bringing a new era. Growing market demand due to tremendous technological development and rising income levels has influenced the sales of accessory.”
Mr. Sunil Srivastava, Country Marketing Manager at RAPOO India
“Increase in demand has caused increased competition in this category. Dollar volatility, increase in price wars due to the entry of new fringe players in the market and rise in manufacturing capacity by some manufacturers are causing dip in the profitability and margins are adversely affected. In the current scenario, these are the major challenges we are facing collectively.”
Mr. Rajiv Bapna, Director, Amkette
“We spent lot of effort, time and money to develop these miniaturized products. Now we put a lot of such products into the market. Now nearly 15 such products for smartphones are there in the market. They are all premium products.”
Mr. Kevan Li, Business Head – India , Antec Inc.
““Antec with it’s a.m.p line of products has recently entered the mobile accessories market in India. The initial response has been quite positive. Traditionally we are known as a high quality PC Component brand. With the introduction of the Antec a.m.p series of mobile accessories, we wish to cater to the lifestyle consumers. With so much of technological advancement, consumers now want to use their devices to the fullest extent with the help of good quality mobile accessories.”