Ashok Rajpal – MD, Ambrane India
Ambrane is an extraordinary success story of a brand that was built with a paltry investment of Rs 10 lakh in 2012, now has a turnover of more than Rs 100 crore in a very short span of time. Interestingly, it is the country’s first ever brand to launch a power bank which is ‘Made in India’. The company, which enjoys the first mover advantage in the power bank segment and dominates the market with 15%-20% share, has now diversified its product portfolio to earphones, headsets, wearables, speakers, USB cables and chargers. Ashok Rajpal, Managing Director, Ambrane India, shares more about the brand and its value proposition, in a conversation with Ramesh Kumar Raja. Excerpts:
Yours is a very interesting story of building a company with a meagre investment of Rs 10 lakh. Can you please share your success account with us? Yes, the starting journey and if rightly said the ticket size for us was not more than Rs 10 lakh. With an investment of only Rs 10 lakh in the year 2012 and followed by several developments, today we stand at a turnover of Rs 100 crore-plus. Ambrane in a very short span of time has built its own success story, especially in the market where power banks were not well known, we have become No.1 in the category and also have become a synonym to being the Industry player. We started this organisation with the core mission to bring innovative products that enhance the lifestyle of the consumer with gadgetry and digital products, which also led to the beginning of our journey to be the best innovative product in 2012 ‘Power bank and Tablets’. Like every other brand, we too faced many challenges. Our initial challenges were mainly in operations and manufacturing. For instance, unskilled manpower to work in the unit, unavailability of raw materials for production or sub-standard quality, even technology became a challenge in India in terms of machinery and their spare parts. However, over a period of time, we have fought against these shortfalls and are growing.
How has the brand Ambrane positioned itself in the hyper-competitive Indian market which is dominated by many big and small players from India and abroad? For Ambrane, our key positioning remains quality which has built our legacy. Our strength remains “Make in India”. We started manufacturing power banks in India even before the government encouraged it. Our products are tailormade to suit the needs of Indian market. Price is another key factor. Ambrane’s products bring new technology to users with several first timers in India. Lastly, we are a brand which enjoys the first mover advantage against the competition in this category. Today Ambrane has sold more than 10 million products across India and is available in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities where many brands are still competing space. Our online
model struck the right chord with the users. Being the leaders in the power bank segment, we dominate the market with 15% – 20% share in the category.
You also offer a wide range of other digital products such as speakers, headphones, wearables, etc. How do you ensure the quality of the products besides maintaining your dominant position in power banks? We don’t compromise on quality of any Ambrane product, be it power banks, speakers, headphones, cables or other accessories, as they carry our brand value and come with the responsibility to honour the trust users have on us. Our dedicated Research & Development team works efficiently to make sure all our products pass through stringent quality tests so that the quality of the product is nowhere compromised. Furthermore, for quality assurance we offer only products which are standardized like all our power banks which come with BIS Certification.
How are your products gaining traction in the market? How has been the response on online and offline platforms? Our products have shown very good traction in the Indian market. Our growth too has been 30% with our wide product range. In terms of response, our hold has been for online followed by offline markets. We were one of the first brands to explore the online markets, when e-commerce was relatively a very new trend. Today we enjoy the maximum benefit and reach, and have done extensive business with Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal and have consistently been No. 1 with them when it comes to sales which are not only limited to the festive seasons but even otherwise. After seeing a steady growth on the online channel, we have ventured into the offline channel two years back. We have been working aggressively to establish our reach strongly. Which are the areas from where maximum demand is coming for the Ambrane products in India? We are lucky to garner demand from most parts of the country. Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh are amongst our most demand-generating states. Other than them, West Bengal, Telangana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and others are also some Indian states with extensive Ambrane users. On online front, we are doing great on a pan-india level through our ecommerce channel partners and our own website. What is the market share of your dominant vertical/s and where do you want to take it? Our dominant vertical has always been power banks. Currently, Ambrane enjoys more than 20% share in the power bank market. In the coming two years, our target is to take upto 25% of the market share. Along with the offline presence, online too remains our key focus area to maximise customer reach. We are expanding our product portfolio to meet the customer’s requirements in the best possible way in order to expand our market share positively. Our key focus will always remain to grow by bringing new technologies to all at affordable prices.
What is your approach to the “after sales service” which remains an issue for the majority of electronics companies? When it comes to our service support, our aftersales motto includes, “No Questions Asked Policy”, wherein if any customer is not satisfied with the product or have received a malfunctioning product, then the customer has the upper hand to return the product to the nearest service centre
“We were one of the first brands to explore the online markets, when e-commerce was relatively a very new trend. Today we enjoy the maximum benefit and reach, and have done extensive business with Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal and have consistently been No. 1 with them when it comes to sales which are not only limited to the festive seasons but even otherwise”