Rohit Nandwani – Founder and COO, Hammer
The rise of technology products has necessitated the need for buying more than one earphone. Homegrown audio and wearables brand Hammer, which claims to have received a phenomenal response in just one year of its being, expects to make use of this by offering high-quality value for money products. Always aiming to go by the latest trend, Hammer is currently working on mobile-free truly wireless earphone with built-in memory so that you can go running with music on without carrying your phone. Rohit Nandwani, Founder and COO, Hammer, speaks more about the brand and its plans, in a conversation with Ramesh Kumar Raja, that how it is planning to incorporate a propriety technology in all its products. The company is also on-boarding two popular personalities for brand endorsements. Excerpts:
How did the idea of Hammer come to you and how are you positioning it in a highly competitive market like India? The idea behind starting Hammer was to cover-up the gap that big names in this industry were leaving behind. Airpods launch and headphone jack removal created a new industry for wireless earphones. We tapped the opportunity by launching our own truly wireless earphones (TWS) label at the right pricing.
People were using one earphone for all needs i.e. workout, netflix, gaming, etc. But now they need separate products for these different activities. Our differentiation will be based on proprietary technology we are launching in all our products and we are positioning ourselves in athleisure electronics segment which is relatively new and unheard of.
Hammer’s product portfolio is a mix of audio and wearables accessories. How do you ensure the quality of your offerings? Quality is our topmost
priority and we are high believers of value for money products. Quality control for audio and wearable is very different – for audio products, it is majorly hardware related checking, whereas with wearables we need checks for software (mobile app) and hardware that is on the wrist. We have instilled a rigorous 66-point quality checklist starting from factory to hands of end customers and this includes drop test, water resistance test, etc.
How has been the response so far and which are the areas from where maximum demand is coming for Hammer products in India? Given we are a one-year-old company, the response is phenomenal so far as there is organic demand for our category products. We are placed rightly where customers come looking for audio and fitness products. For now, the majority of orders are coming from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities of India.
Do you also offer products via offline channel besides selling them online? We are in talks with Croma and few other traditional distributors for offline placement. Covid-19 would certainly change a lot of dynamics
and we would wait until lockdown ends before making any decisions.
After sales service remains an issue for majority of electronics companies. What is your approach to it?
Rightly said that the majority of electronics companies face and fail because of after-sale service issues. Social media of electronics companies is filled with such reviews and instances of bad serviceability. We considered this as a growth opportunity, due to quality strictness, our after sales is very minuscule.
We know Hammer product buyer is our brand ambassador and we treat them like one. We have instilled a one-touch serviceability policy i.e. we answer queries wherever customer raise, be it on Facebook, emails, call, Instagram. Reverting their grievance within 3 hours works well. We provide our best warranty services which includes replacement of product within the selected period of time. For a customer, to know a company is just a call away, instills confidence in them and for this reason within 1 yr of operation our customer repeat is 7%.
There is a parallel grey market in India thriving on the counterfeit accessories and devices. How do you deal with them and what is your advice to the people to do away with those fake products? In India, counterfeit is an equally big market as the branded market. This can’t be ignored, however, as of now, we haven’t faced problem of counterfeit products for our brand.
For people using counterfeit Bluetooth earphones, it’s highly advisable not to use as they lack necessary certifications and aren’t usually signal proof and these signals are brain damaging and has serve health hazards.
What are your outreach and investment plans for India? We have received investment commitment from jabong’s founder, we are planning to incorporate a propriety technology in all our products. We are also on-boarding two popular personalities for brand endorsements.
Please tell us something about R&D and innovation at Hammer? Any plan to expand your product portfolio? Before the launch of any product, we go through the needs of our target audience. To gain insights, not just customer support team, all department heads talk to customers who are happy to share their experiences and expectations. Accordingly, we provide the latest upgraded technology which matches the requirement. For example, we launched Bluetooth 5.0 products for PUBG players as they faced audio lag with traditional Bluetooth 4.1 products.
We are working on mobile-free truly wireless earphone with built-in memory i.e. you go running with music on without carrying your phone.
The emergence of IOT has opened a new avenue of growth for many tech firms. Do you have any plan to leverage this trend? Yes, we always aim to go by the latest trend, or else we won’t be called a new-age audio brand. All the things are getting smart, be it wearables or hearables. We are planning to connect our fitness bands to earphones for data collection which will be useful for customers.
How do you look at the impact of Covid-19 lockdown on companies like yours? What’s your plan ahead to deal with the crisis? Like other industries, the audio industry has also supported the decision and initiatives of extended lockdown by the government. However, the sector needs to resume online sales. The audio industry now has goals to conquer which were nowhere visible to their horizon 4 months back, so it would definitely be a tough battle to conquer. The companies need to deliver premium products to their consumers. So, we are planning to give more options for products and will try to stabilize in the market. Individualism will be more prominent than groupism going forward. People will find ways to entertain themselves by staying home more often and that is when we will try to provide them options for making their lives easier. ■ ramesh@mymobile.co.in