Bang & Olufsen prioritises India market

Consumer electronics elite Bang & Olufsen has pinned India as a high priority market, where it aims to grow to a Rs 100 crore company in the next five years. The company recently opened its second flagship store in Bengaluru, having opened the first one in Delhi about 18 months ago.

Announcing plans to open its third flagship store in Mumbai, Casper Steenkjaer, Head of Sales at Bang & Olufsen, said: “Even before the launch of these stores, Bang & Olufsen had a sprawling customer base in India. Mapping based on existing customers showed that Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru are the top markets, because of which we chose to open our flagship stores here,” adding, “Apart from these stores, we plan to launch pop-up stores, satellite stores and shop-in-shops to expand brand presence. In the next 6-12 months, we plan to open outlets in Hyderabad, Pune, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh and Kochi, among others.”

Further, the company is looking at brand development opportunities in the Business to Business (B2B) segment. “Bang & Olufsen offers a whole range of electronics. So we are looking to tie up with brands that we can identify with, wherein we can design and power luxury apartments and presidential suites at high-end hotels,” he said. The company, however, maintains that B2C is its core segment, which comprises about 70-80% of its business.

On its India strategy, he said, “Right now, we are fighting volume-driven brands rather than quality-driven ones here. Therefore, as a market penetration strategy, prices in India are about 20% lower than in other parts of the world. Our focus is to build brand presence and to reach out to the right customer.”

The company has lined up four to five launches this year, and is especially excited about a television, which is both design-wise and price-wise suitable for the Indian market.