Tempt India is the latest brand joining the Indian wearables and hearables market, which is witnessing tremendous market growth year-on-year. The brand brings with it exclusive product designs and the latest in sound technology that will surely make it a tempting product of choice for consumers. DeviceNext had the opportunity to interact with Gaurav Khetterpal, Co-founder of Tempt India, who discussed the brand’s inception journey and growth strategy for business expansion in India.
Here are the excerpts from the interaction:
Kindly share the brand’s inception journey and how did you come up with the brand name – Tempt?
We started a company in 2015 under the brand name GROWLAM, which is a B2B office supplies of lamination products, toner cartridges, etc., wherein we have a distribution channel all over India. Now we wanted to diversify our business and were interested in mobile accessories as it is a growing market in India. We could see there’s a lot of scope in that and whatever distribution network we have, and we can leverage our network as well for that. So, we thought to create a product line which should be tempting to the customers. And we thought, why not keep the brand name as Tempt. In June 2022, we decided to launch the brand. Tempt is a premium mobile brand, and we are into hearables, such as TWS and neckbands, and wearables such as smartwatches. We are also doing powerables such as fast charging cables, adapters and also multi-use wireless chargers. We also have a range of speakers, which are exclusive to us. Even our TWS have a technology called Oxy Acoustics, some of which are designed in Singapore.
What are the product categories you’ve launched, and what’s your strategy to grow your presence in the Indian market?
We are right now in all the major categories of mobile accessories. We have started with a few categories in hearables, wearables and powerables, as our target is to reach all the premium mobile accessories and lifestyle stores pan-India. We are also targeting the large format retail (LFR), and slowly are venturing into the regional LFRs. So, that’s our pan-India strategy. Presently, we have 30-35 Distributors across North and West India. And presently we are extending to South and then East regions as well. Our vision is to target 400 Distributors and 30,000+ retail outlets pan India within the first year. And if you talk about the scope of the market, categories like smartwatches or the TWS segment are growing approximately 20-25% month-on-month. Therefore, there is a lot of scope available for new brands like us.
Could you also share the brand’s vision for marketing in India?
Our strategy is to provide affordable luxury and quality products backed with efficient after-sales service and continuously upgrading the products. We also have set up an in-house e-Commerce team, for selling our Tempt products on our websites and other marketplaces like Amazon, Flipkart etc. However, our go-to-market strategy is mainly focused on distribution as we can leverage our connections and our existing distributors. We have many existing IT distributors selling mobile accessories because it is not just sold by telecom outlets anymore. In the future, we have plans of selling handpicked IT products that can provide value to the customer. If you get all the products under one roof, it is easier for us to penetrate the market. And I believe that there is a lot of scope, especially in tier-II and tier-III cities. There is always scope for selling good quality products with the latest designs, and latest technology and that’s how we want to grow.
There are too many brands already established in this segment. How are you creating a differentiating factor for Tempt product range?
As a premium affordable brand, we strongly believe that all quality parameters have to be met as we offer a warranty with our products, and this ensures quality and durable products for our consumers. If you talk about differentiation, then the Oxy acoustics technology gives the listeners a true listening experience and a way to experience the music with ultimate clarity and an immersive and extremely natural sound. Because it is the user experience that matters the most once the customer starts listening to their favourite music, which makes the real difference. We have also collaborated with a design house in Singapore, where some of our designs are conceptualized and then it is sent to the factories, and then that exclusive product is imported. So, our unique designs also make us different from other brands. All our product categories have the latest technology and design, for instance, in smartwatches, we already have the largest screen sizes and features, which is at par with other competitor brands. And at the same time, we have to be competitive enough to make it an affordable luxury brand.
As you said you’re importing directly from China, and there are many logistics problems associated due to COVID situation in China. What is your roadmap for ensuring supply chains are not disrupted for Tempt and are you planning for Making in India?
Some of our products are imported and we have local Make in India products as well. What we feel is in the next six months, the way the government is encouraging for Make in India, there will be more and more products being made here only. For that reason, we have already collaborated with many Indian factories, where the supply chain will not be disrupted. So, we’ll be able to manage our inventories and the supply chain effectively. I think right now there are some disruptions from China due to ongoing COVID, but we have enough inventories to manage our orders at the moment. Going forward, we want to create a product range where most of the products are being made in India. We will be able to sustain ourselves because we have created the right mix of products with a vision of “Make in India” by collaborating with many local Indian manufacturers.
On a closing note, what will be your message for distributors and customers to expect from Tempt?
Tempt is committed to providing affordable luxury products to all our customers pan-India. When we talk about our distributors and our channel partners, our message to them will be that we are here to stay for a longer period, and this is just the start. Our mantra is that we all grow together. We will be providing the best aftersales service, which I think is the main step for any brand and then the feedback starts getting from the customers, and from there the game changes. With each other’s support, we all can create a big brand and the big Tempt family.
