- Tell us about your personal journey with Astrum Holdings Ltd so far? How has India been performing for you as a market?
Astrum Holdings Ltd has started in 2008 in Hongkong with an aim to enable people get worldwide access to new technologies in their field of consumer electronics. In 2009, we set up our R&D office in Shenzhen and later in 2011 we got subsidiary for South Africa. From 2013, we had started product portfolio diversification with an aim to get new product launched in each quarter. The company got subsidiary for India last year and have Pan India presence. Astrum is brand that continues to pride itself as a major and competitive innovative tech-former in the IT Hardware Accessories and smart technology industry. And throughout our journey, many of our range of products were nominated and received ground breaking awards around the Asia pacific region and also in 2017 we have received ABFA Awards 2017 for Outstanding Franchises & Outstanding Individual Brand. In 2018, we received ‘Made in Hong Kong, designed in Hong Kong’s Award. We have received other awards too and hope to continue on this path. Currently, my company invested 100 crores to set up a factory in Andhra Pradesh to manufacture its good in India too.
Astrum’s performance in the Indian market has been robust, we have been consistently registering growth month on month both in terms of revenue as well as Market Penetration. Price is one thing in India which makes it a key element; we provide superior quality products at an affordable price.
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.
- Which category do you currently see offering you the best result and what are the demand drivers therein?
Whether it is for mobile accessories, audio devices, IT or LED lights, we have put all our efforts to break the trade-off between innovation, quality and cost. Among the various categories we have, Audio is currently the one that’s offering us the best result. And for the year we have seen demand drive in our Barrel speaker, Trolley speaker and Bluetooth Speaker ST150.
- Tell us about Astrum’s manufacturing facility with regards to its location, size, capacity, product portfolio and so on. How much investments have you made for the same so far?
As mentioned earlier Astrum’s manufacturing facility in India is going to be located in Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh) with a size of 16000sqm. We are constantly expanding our product categories, like we recently revamped our entire range of Audio Products, we are also adding quite a few products to our Smart Category with the key vision, to think smart and work smart and challenge the norm by creating high quality products that are innovative and serve the purpose of enhancing the way people live. For this project, we have invested 100 crores in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh.
- Sustaining customer relationships over time is vital for any business. What is the process you deploy to collaborate with your customers in order to deliver greater value to them?
We understand the nerve of our customers they come with an expectation of newer technology with every passing minute and we try to match that with our ever-developing technology. However, we keep it price competitive so that it is available to more people and more people use our products and enjoy or rave the benefits of it. We believe in the perfect marriage of quality and technology within the budget of people.
- Globally and in India, what are some of the alliances you have for technology?
We have our in-house team in china for both R&D and design capabilities. Since, design is one of our main focus area we also use third party services. We have joint venture with one of china’s leading company LLKER who with provide us with a CBD (Creative Users, business and designers) system.
- The electric vehicles segment is an emerging segment in India so would you consider foraying into the electric vehicles battery segment?
Although it is an emerging market we are not looking at it currently. However, since we are into technology the opportunity of foraying into electric vehicles battery segment excites us and we hope we may sometime look into it in near future.
- What is the growth strategy in India for the next five years for Astrum?
The vision for Astrum is to break down barriers between People and Technology in next 5 years. Technology, quality, market and environment are the critical success factors on which Astrum is constantly focusing to further develop its business and bring added value to its customers. Currently there is lot of work being done on the Smart Products category as said before. Our team is also doing some pioneering work in AI & IoT. Balancing quality at optimum price points shall outline the way forward. Also, expansion in terms of product portfolio by bringing niche solutions, along with a strong partner network and team remains the key focus area for the brand.