Technology brands are working aggressively to bring innovative products to consumers to tap emerging opportunities. They work consistently to bring affordable and quality products to serve their loyal customers. Astrum,one of the leading tech brand, offers innovative consumer products in Indian market. In a recent interview with Digital Terminal, Mr. Manoj Kumar Pansari, CEO of Astrum Holdings Ltd shared his opinion about Indian market, their overall performance and future plans to be ahead in the competition.
DT: Brief about the Astrum’s performance in India so far. What have been your major achievements during this journey?
Mr. Manoj: Encouraged by our success as leading mobile & IT accessories player in the Global markets for a decade now, Astrum aims to establish the same league in India. With the key vision, to think smart and challenge the norm by creating high quality products that are innovative and serve the purpose of enhancing the way people live, Astrum aims to make people ‘Experience the Difference’. Undoubtedly, our products tailored with the new age technology at best price points have struck the right chord with the consumers, in the Indian Market. Astrum has been successful to break the trade-off between innovation, quality and cost. Our widening product portfolio has seen a positive response amongst consumers and acceptance from the Indian Markets. We are quite optimistic about our ventures and are expecting a steady growth for our products. . Today Astrum is proudly earned its place amongst the leading brands for accessories in India.
DT: How do you see the emerging opportunities for technology brands in India?
Mr. Manoj: The total subscriber base for mobile users in India is pegged at 990 million subscribers on pan-India basis. Out of this subscriber base 35-40% are smart phone users, which give us a substantial target achievable market (TAM) for us to work with. Hence, we envisage a quantum leap in our revenues in the current fiscal year.
DT: What are the major products which you are focusing for India market?
Mr. Manoj: We carry a huge product portfolio across multiple categories like Mobile Accessories, PC Accessories, Smart Products to name a few. We also have an extensive line of Audio Products within our product portfolio. All these products are high focus products for us.
DT: Which are the best-selling products and how is the durability & affordability factor in your products?
Mr. Manoj: In terms of durability and affordability, our expert R&D Team focuses on ‘quality without compromise’ as we follow a stringent quality control procedure for all our products which has worked the best for the brand. Our precision engineered products scores not just in good looks but also in features. Astrum along with ensuring high quality standards stays focused on price performance as one of the key drivers for its product development. Our products suit the pocket of all the age groups understanding their needs. It’s the perfect mix of ‘Price and Quality’.
DT: What are the main challenges do you see currently for this market?
Mr. Manoj: India, being such a large geography has always posed a challenge in terms of market penetration into Tier 2 & Tier 3 cities, to counter this challenge; we are planning some very aggressive measures to reach out to the consumers in these cities. Another key challenge is the price sensitive nature of the Indian Consumer where quality takes a beating to accommodate more aggressive price points. We in Astrum spend our energies in balancing the price requirements while not compromising on the quality standards.
DT: Please share your distribution setup in India. How do you manage to set a balance between offline & online partners?
Mr. Manoj: Our distribution strategy takes cognizance of the diverse nature of the Indian channel. Our products get distributed into multiple channels of the likes of mobile retailers, IT dealers, gift channel and through online market places. We have dedicated regional distributors with clearly defined focus on Brick & Mortar channel as well as online.
