We are retailing 4000 units every day: Aman Gupta
We are retailing 4000 units every day: Aman Gupta

You can call them Quirky. You can call them unconventional, but these days many brands (especially in the start-up space) are going off beat way to fetch the attention of younger audience even in the categories such as electronics. Many start-ups such as boAt which operates in consumer durable segments call themselves as fashion and lifestyle brand in tech space owing to unique product preposition. The brand primarily retails consumer electronics like- earphones, headphones, speakers, travel charger & premium rugged cables.

Journey and innovation

BoAt is started by Aman Gupta and Sameer Mehta in 2014, but the brand began completely functional by 2016. As per Aman, he ventured the brand after a short stint with Harman where he works as India sales director and looked after its sub brands including jBL, Harman Kardon, AKG.

Though Gupta did not divulge sales figure, but he claims the company is retailing 4000 units per day on pan India level. Sharing his entrepreneurial journey Gupta said, “I did my MBA from ISB and then joined Harman as the sales director in India. In my stint of two years with Harman, I realized this place required something logical in terms of pricing and product innovation.”

Going further he asserts that he found a vacuum in consumer durable space. As per him he added fashion quotient in this category to attract the youth which was missing with contemporary brands within the same space. “We don’t call ourselves as an electronic seller as we are retailing fashion products in the category of the electronics. We want to bring something parallel to what is available to youth in US or Europe but with Indian resonance. We need to realize that people don’t buy this stuff for long run now. I would like to call it FMCD (Fast moving consumer goods).”

Pricing and distribution

Since the brand’s USP lies in the affordability so it does not have price points beyond Rs 8000. However, we are coming up with a range of devices including sound bars, noise cancelling devices which would be priced slightly above upto 15 k. “Fashion and tech are two areas where we are playing on. Chinese makers are already there in the market so I do not want to fight on price,” said Gupta.

As of now the company is mainly retailing via marketplaces such as Flipkart, Amazon etc and plans to launch its exclusive stores soon. “For now, we are looking towards mom and pop shops also we would be looking at appointing local distributors on national level,” said Gupta.

Funding and celebrity collaboration

The company is already on the radar of investors.  boAt has just raised INR 6 Crores from Fireside Ventures in the month of May this year. Speaking on the development Kanwaljit Singh, Managing Partner, Fireside Ventures, said “Our investment in boAt is in line with our investment thesis at Fireside. We look for brands that have identified white spaces and come up with solutions and products that cater to these target audiences. boAt as a brand is doing exactly that. They have created a product line-up that caters specifically to how the Indian consumer wants to listen to music.

Being a start-up the brand already roped the nice names from film and entertainment industry such as Jacqueline Fernandez as its brand ambassador.

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