BeoWorld to setup 2 new B&O exclusive stores and 30 shop-in-shops over the next two years

Bang & Olufsen (B&O), the Danish high-end audio manufacturers, recently launched BeoSound Shape and BeoLab 50 speaker and BeoVision Eclipse 4k OLED TV in India. As the company is launching its latest audio range and expanding its presence in the Indian market, Gaganmeet Singh, CEO, BeoWorld (formed for an exclusive partnership to represent B&O in India) talks to Business Today about the current operations, plans, and roadmap for the upcoming year. Here are the experts from the interview.

When did B&O enter the Indian market and how has been the growth so far? Is the company present through a distributor or have setup their own office in India?
B&O entered India in 2013 with an exclusive partner in India with BeoWorld and the first flagship store was opened in January 2015 at DLF Emporio, New Delhi.  Since our entry into the Indian market, the growth has been very promising.

B&O being a premium audio equipment company. Who is your target audience and where do you seem most of the sales coming from?
B&Os products start at Rs 7,500 and go up to Rs 70 lakh. Our existing customers are traditionally affluent individuals with High Net Worth (C-Level Professionals, wealthy businessmen) who are usually first in their circle to adopt new brands. They are always aware of the latest global trends and focus on exclusivity.

Our potential customers are high earning not rich yet (HENRY), which include young professionals and working women in the upper middle class who shop for prominent brands and may buy counterfeit products for reasonable costs.Then there are windfall consumers who have sudden monetary gain and love aspirational shopping depending on awareness.  Most of our patrons are in Tier 1 cities.

How was the year 2017 in terms of operations and revenue?
The year 2017 was challenging, mainly because after demonetisation the consumer sentiment was shaken to spend on for the luxury space.

Did the introduction of GST affect your business in any way?
GST has assisted us positively with smooth inter-state sales operations and imports. Hence, I would not call it a deterrence. Earlier we had multiple taxes to levy and now a flat percentage is levied on the product. Moreover, there has been no increase in the pricing of B&O products post GST rollout.

What are your expansion plans for the Indian market?

Presently we have six exclusive stores in India in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata. In the coming 12 months we are working closely in expanding our point of sales through distribution as well. We will be digging deep into the travel retail, consumer electronic chains, and online medium. We are looking at setting up 2 new exclusive stores, taking the number to 8, and 30 shop-in-shops in the next two years to expand B&O's presence in India. After opening our flagship stores in up to 4,000 square feet space, we are also looking at opening the smaller stores. These smaller stores, with less capital required, will help us in reaching out to more customers. At the moment, we are strongly focusing on PR, in-store events bsut in the coming months, our focus is going to grow in the digital media too.

Are B&O products available on the online channel as well?
We have a small range of products which are available online on beoplay.co.in and also www.beoworld.com. Luxury buyers prefer bricks-and-mortar stores in India, which is driven by their longing to "touch and feel" goods before they make a heavy purchase and also a fear that goods bought online could be fake or defective.

How mature is the Indian audience when it comes to music and equipment?
The Indian audience needs to explore more when it comes to sound. The psyche in India is to focus on bass and not the clarity of sound or vocals. They are falsely guided towards poor quality products with no service network, which is media marketing driven. Consumers do not really focus on the quality of the material used in the product.