Innovation, value for money and quality: Ethos of Videocon

Arvind Bali
CEO, Videocon Telecom

After exiting the mobility business, Videocon was looking for a business opportunity which would be synergic with its existing business. At the same time, the business should not require any capex and has to be self-sustaining. Moreover, the major factor that has compelled the company to foray into the security and surveillance industry is the current market size and its potential. 

“One of the key factors for us to foray into the security and surveillance industry was the current market size and the growth potential of the market. After exiting mobility business, we started looking at business opportunities which were synergic to our existing businesses, and at the same time did not require any capex, but were self-sustaining, i.e. profitable from the word go,” reveals Arvind Bali, CEO, Videocon Telecom.

Furthermore, the company started understanding the market dynamics as it undertook few projects which helped it to offer end-to-end security and surveillance projects. 

“We started with undertaking basic projects for corporates, understood the market dynamics and slowly diversified into end-to-end security and surveillance projects for large enterprise and government sector. There was no looking back after that. We studied the overall market and decided to foray into CCTV camera with our own brand to capitalize on the opportunity.”

Brand Positioning
To better position itself in the market, Videocon will continue to follow its ethos and will offer innovative and high-quality products at a fair price to its customers. Moreover, the products and solutions offered by the company enhances the user experiences and the small value adds clearly differentiates the brand from other competitors.     

“Videocon is a strong and trustworthy brand in consumer durables and appliances. The ethos of Videocon brand is ‘Innovation’, ‘value for money’ and ‘quality’. This is exactly what our brand positioning strategy will be. We will offer most up-to-date innovative and high-quality products to our customers’ at the most reasonable prices.” 

Product and solution differentiation will be many, right from the quality of components being used the lens, IR, sensor and housing etc which ultimately enhances user experience in terms of picture quality and product durability; to the hosting of servers, where unlike other players, we will be hosting our servers for remote viewing in India itself instead of China. Then to small value adds, like remote control, wireless mouse etc which add to customer convenience, and other brands do not provide. Finally, all our products will come with 2 years warranty with support of over 1,000 authorized service centers across the country,” says Arvind.

Channels
Videocon will keep on stone unturned to take the products and solutions closer to the consumers, the company is not only depending on traditional retail distribution but will also engage with system integrators and online channel partners.   

“In addition to the conventional channels of Retail Distribution, we will also be directly engaging with system integrators and online channels. We are also planning to pilot door-to-door selling across the household segment in a few cities for direct and faster outreach.   

“Among our priority markets we are targeting Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata & Chennai and planned outreach across 14 states, including Punjab, Haryana, JK, HP, UP(W), UPE, Rajasthan, Gujarat, MPCG, Maharashtra, Karnataka, AP, West Bengal and North East,” reveals Arvind.  

Smart City as an opportunity
Smart City project has been acting as a catalyst in the growth of security and surveillance industry. It will continue to flourish with the increasing number of smart city projects. 

“The Smart city initiative is playing and will continue to play a very important role in the growth of this industry. All Smart City projects have Video Surveillance as a hygiene factor, in addition to other elements. With more smart city projects rollout, the general awareness of Video surveillance is likely to grow further, and hence demand,” explains Arvind.  

He further adds, “The current Indian security and surveillance market is approx. $1-billion market (Rs.6,600 crore). Of this approximately 55% market, i.e. approx Rs.3,650 crore pertains to video surveillance/CCTV.  The CCTV market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 26% and reach Rs.9,150 crore by 2021, which is 2.5 times the current market size. The growth engine will be household and small commercials establishment segment (shops and offices), which is likely to grow from current market size of 550 crore to approx. 1,950 crore, i.e. three times by 2021.”

Revenue Target
While discussing about the revenue target, Arvind discloses, “The total CCTV market in India in 2017-18 is expected to be approximately Rs.4,400 crore, of which the organized CCTV market will be approx. 65%, i.e. approx. Rs.2,850 crore. With a top-line revenue target of Rs.175 crore in FY 2017-18, we are targeting a market share of 6%. 

By FY 2018-19, we are targeting a fair market share of 12%, and by FY 2020-21, we will be among the Top 3 players in the Industry.” 

Aparna Mullick
aparna@varindia.com