Market research for creating a solution pitch for Bose:

Sources: The research consists of secondary sources (listed at the end of the document)
along with primary conversations conducted with Bose’s agency in India

Summary:

Following are the key takeaways from the research conducted:

1. Bluetooth audio devices are seeing widespread adoption because of high uptake
of smartphones across consumer segments
2. Rising disposable incomes and a shift in lifestyle needs across segments are
creating a sizeable demand for consumer durable products.
3. Asia Pacific is expected to register the fastest CAGR of 13.0% from 2019 to 2025.
Shifting preference toward technology-led premium products in emerging
countries, such as India and China, is boosting the regional market.
4. Bose is completely moving to E-com platforms as the users see value in reviewing
the products online and make a purchase decision.
5. Bose Corporation relies on a low-key advertising policy compared to its
competitors in the industry or for that matter other similar multinational giants.

Market Overview
1. The Bluetooth speaker market was valued at USD 6.49 billion in 2019, and it is
expected to reach USD 48.52 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 40.38%, over the
forecast period (2020-2025).
2. Bluetooth speakers have witnessed widespread adoption in the past few years,
with these devices accounting for a sizeable share in the audio technology
category.
3. Rapid innovations and increasing R&D expenditure with new innovative
applications have boosted the demand in the Bluetooth speaker market. The
growing penetration of smartphones and increasing consumer awareness have
further boosted the demand for Bluetooth speakers, worldwide.
4. Asia Pacific is expected to register the fastest CAGR of 13.0% from 2019 to 2025.
Shifting preference toward technology-led premium products in emerging
countries, such as India and China, is boosting the regional market. Rising sales of
smart devices, such as smartphone, tablets, and phablets, in the region, is also
expected to result in an increased demand for music on-the-go, which, in turn, will
promote the usage of portable products
5. Advanced technologies, such as AI-assisted devices, are expected to influence the
growth of the market in the coming years.
Key Industry Trends

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 1. Changing consumer dynamics in the market and increasing preference by the
consumers for portable devices is supporting the growth of the market.
2. The smart speaker market is expected to grow by three times by the end of 2022.

Growth Drivers
1. Growing Demand: Rising disposable incomes, rise in working-age population,
rising rural incomes, increasing urbanisation, a growing middle class, changing
lifestyles and easy access to credit along with increasing electrification of rural
areas and wide usability of online sales aid growth in demand
2. Increase in usage of smartphones for music (Indians spend more time listening to
music on their phones than the rest of the world) creates an immediate use case
for ancillary products like Bluetooth speakers.
3. A largely untapped market: India has substantially lower penetration of consumer
appliances compared to other countries. Emerging rural areas have great potential
for consumer durable products.

CONSUMER INSIGHTS

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 ● Tech Savvy: Consumers are becoming more and more technology savvy and
manufacturers have to be ready to offer the best of technological advancements
to the users
● Mounting IoT acceptance and the rise of digital consumers: Both brands and
consumers today are using IoT as a platform for real-time consumer engagement
and customer service. The amount of internet-connected devices has vastly
expanded over the past decade.
● Increased online spending: Unique services offered by online sellers, burgeoning
payment platforms, strengthened delivery logistics, and significant investments
are major factors behind the rising adoption of e-commerce channels
● Growing affluence: Wealthy urbanites will be responsible for one-third of total
consumption of consumer durables. The demand for consumer durables in India
has been growing on the back of rising incomes, increasing urbanisation and
changing lifestyles

Bose global:

Bose India:

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Competitive Landscape
1. Market position: Bose is a world leader in making sound systems and speakers
including premium Bluetooth audio products.. Bose ideology is to target the urban
users at the age of 22 so that by the time they turn 25 they will have the
purchasing power they will aspire to buy Bose Products. The Bluetooth speaker
market is highly fragmented, as changing consumer demands and new innovations
with efficient pricing by various brands make it difficult to retain the customer.
2. Competition: Bose in India is facing competition from brands like Sennheiser, JBL
& Sony in the order of priority. Since the news of Apple Launching new over the
ear headphones, it is being considered as the biggest challenge for players like
Bose & Sonos as Apple has the database of customers who have installed the
Apps for Bose & Sonos and these users can be easily targeted through various
mediums.
3. Market Presence: Bose currently has more than 150+ retail stores in India, the
Primary markets for Bose in India are Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata,
Hyderabad, Pune & Ahmedabad. Till last year Bose wanted users to experience
the products while making a purchase decision but with the recent trends, Bose is
completely moving to E-com platforms as the users see value in reviewing the products
online and make a purchase decision. In January alone bose has shut down its 119
retail stores across the globe which includes countries like North America,
Australia, Europe and Japan. With the presence on e-com platforms like Amazon
and Flipkart and the global trends, it seems like Bose will adopt the same strategy
in India and will focus on increasing its online presence.

Products pricing and client targeting:-

1. In terms of pricing, Bose has very competitive pricing as compared to Sennheiser,
JBL and Sony. Along with the pricing, Bose has been innovative enough to take
early mover advantage when it comes to Audio quality, Audio Sunglasses and
Noise Cancellation features in their headphones & Earphones which helps to
differentiate them from its competition.
2. Bose Corporation entered India in 1998. Since it's entry, the prices of its products
have been constantly revised downwards, while part of the reason can be
attributed to a drastic increase in offerings by competitors in the segment and
some part to the lowering of import duties.
3. Product suite:
a. Bluetooth Headphones & Earphones:- Bose products are available in the
price range of 13k – 35k

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 b. Portable Bluetooth Speakers:- Bose Bluetooth speakers are in the price
range of 9k - 60k which caters to different needs of the customers while
their PA and Loudspeakers range from 60k - 5Lacs.
4. Client personas: In the past, by studying search queries, Bose identified three
core shopping personas: price-sensitive customers, premium-benefit-oriented
customers, and traditional users. They chose ad formats carefully to be sure of
reaching each persona.

Bose Marketing and Digital strategy:-

1. The company has been using the technique called 'permission marketing', as
customers call on its toll-free numbers given out in its advertisements.
2. The media vehicles used by the brand consists of a mix of current affairs, business
and film magazines including India Today, Business Today, Business World, and
Filmfare. Apart from mainline dailies, the newspapers include Deccan Herald,
Deccan Chronicle, The Hindu and Hindu Business Line. The response has been
fair, claims the company.
3. Bose primarily does Awareness campaigns during Diwali/Festive season and at
product launch. Bose might come up with the launch of Flipper which was
supposed to happen in 2020 but there is no clarity on product features and
launch dates.
4. Bose Corporation relies on a low-key adverting policy compared to its
competitors in the industry or for that matter other similar multinational giants.
The company’s primary marketing strategy is to make its products available to the
consumer directly with no middleman or resellers. To this end, Bose has focused
on selling through exclusive stores that the company has set up.
5. With the shift to a largely e-commerce space for sales, the opportunity for digital
marketing can help the company leverage a low-cost e-commerce platform to
increase geographical reach, improve margins and offer customers with flexible
options for product uptake (EMIs etc.)
6. Bose planning agency is Mediacom which is a part of WPP group. For campaigns
related to the Indian market, the WPP teams work on the campaign KPIs, plan the
campaign and send the same to Singapore team, post which the client (India &
Singapore) & agency come to an agreement before sharing with the US team for
further evaluation. The 2019 campaign was executed only on News & Native
platforms. The Bose creative team is Grey which executed last year’s Social Media
influencer led TVC.

Next steps: We are in touch with the team in Mediacom (Deepanshu & Ishan). First
round of conversations have been conducted (15 March 2020) and will try and fix up a

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meeting with the agency and the client in the coming week. The agency has suggested
for us to include an integrated marketing approach (with Alexa or Google Home)
targeting the premium audience on JioSaavn.
As a next step, we will also try and create inroads into Grey.

Sources:-

1. https://www.ibef.org/industry/consumer-durables-presentation
2. https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/global-bluetooth-speaker-industry
3. https://www.boseindia.com/en_in/index.html
4. https://www.channelnews.com.au/new-threat-for-sonos-bose-as-apple-targets-pro-audio-
market/
5. https://www.channelnews.com.au/bose-struggles-after-store-closures-so-whats-next/
6. https://www.channelnews.com.au/is-apple-taking-on-bose-sennheiser-with-new-high-end-
headphones/
7. https://www.exchange4media.com/marketing-news/bose-corporation-india-targets-mass-
marketunveils-new-products-6725.html
8. https://www.marketing91.com/marketing-mix-bose/
9. https://assets.bose.com/content/dam/Bose_DAM/Web/consumer_electronics/global/content_pa
ges/corporate/about_us/sustainability/Sustainability-2019-refresh/pdf/Bose-2019-Sustainability-
Report.pdf