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Boat Case Study
Boat Case Study
up India
The boAt is an Indian Consumer Electronics Startup, that has revolutionized the way
people listen to music. Only within 5 years of its operations, it has become the market
leader with a whopping 27.3% market share in the earwear segment, selling 8,000-10,000
units every day in 2019! How did boAt achieve this? Let’s take a look at the success story
of boAt.
We’ll start by looking at the recorded music industry of India, existing
competitors, the journey of boAt, its communication strategy, and finally the
future.
India’s Music Industry:
Driven by low data rates and increasing smartphone penetration, the country is
witnessing higher traffic towards legitimate sources of music such as OTT platforms,
video streaming platforms, etc.
But the obvious bummer with these players was the pricing. The prices at which
these players were offering their products were way too high vs consumer
expectations. We all know India is a price-sensitive market. Secondly, a lot of
consumers were accustomed to using bundled headphones that come packaged
with the smartphones and hence did not found viable to pay a premium price
for just the audio accessories. Third, the pirates and Chinese Products. Street
vendors who were selling these counterparts at a much lower price but lacked
quality and were not durable. This unfortunately set a perception in the market
that paying a premium or “anything extra” for a set of headsets is pointless.
This is where boAt found the opportunity. Before we get into the opportunity
itself, let’s understand the Journey of boAt.
The story of boAt
The two founders Aman Gupta and Sameer Mehta started Imagine Marketing
in 2014, the parent company of boAt, with an initial capital of ₹30 lakh, which
they raised from family and friends, this investment helped them leap to their
first Product in 2016 — the boAt BassHeads225.
Initially, the founders limited their channels to popular e-commerce platforms
like Amazon and Flipkart. But, in May 2018, it caught traction, when Fireside
Ventures invested ₹6 crores and its founder Kanwaljit Singh became a key
member in the company’s offline strategy. Under his leadership, he opened a
few offline stores and in 2019, around 20% of its sales came from these stores.
The insights boAt discovered were simple, yet, powerful ones. During their
target consumer (Millennials) research well they found the following insights:
1. This generation in India looked for quality and affordable products. They
looked more for a great experience and value for their money invested
2. They wanted the accessories which would go with their lifestyle and are
durable
3. They preferred bass-focused music
4. They wanted easy to use products (ex. cables which were easy to
untangle)
And hence, they launched a range of products that created a kind of
experience that plugged their consumers into Nirvana. Today, their portfolio
includes an extensive catalog of headphones, earphones, speakers, travel
chargers & premium cables.
Warburg Pincus, a New York-based private equity fund invested $100 million in boAt for a
The company raised INR 50 crore from Qualcomm Ventures at a valuation of INR 2,200
crore
So, what was their strategy to reach this number of audience in such a shorter
time?
2) Digital Marketing
Over the years, the company has spent a lot of money on online marketing, as
they have targeted the youth. BoAt has mainly run its campaigns on Google
and social networking websites like Facebook and Instagram. Interestingly, all
customers of boAt are referred to as ‘boAtheads’. The company has also
appointed youth icons such as Kiara Advani to win the trust of the customers.
5)Communication strategy
boAt has a community for their audience, all the users of boAt products are
called ‘boAtheads’. Possibly one of the few “Indian” brands to do something
on these lines for headsets/earphones. The founders believe in the consumer-
first approach, hence they pay attention to what consumers are expressing and
then build and modify their products accordingly.
They Sponsored popular youth events like Sunburn, Lakme Fashion week and
IPL which striked the right chord of the millennials.
They roped in Brand Ambassadors to whom the audience could relate to, that
is, their core target audience. They launched campaigns which further
strengthened the brand appeal among the musicophiles. Here are a few of
them: Sikhar Dhawan,etc.
Conclusion
boAt has made a huge name for itself in the last 4 years. It’s reputation and
popularity was bolstered after the appearance of one of its co-founders, Aman
Gupta, on Shark Tank India season 1. On the marketing, pricing and styling
front, the company has left no stone unturned in outsmarting the existing
competition. The impact has been such that renowned brands like JBL had to
cut down on its prices in order to stay relevant in the industry.
The future of the company looks quite promising, courtesy of a dedicated R&D
team, millions in funding and the zeal to stay appealing to the youth. Notably,
Aman Gupta’s present net worth is INR 10,500 crore.
Q1) what strategies did boat do in terms of STP and 4 P of marketing right and
different from other existing players in the competition.
Q1) critically discuss their strategy to enter into wearable market.