We are offering same technology at a better price: Super Plastronics CEO

Interview with Avneet Singh Marwah, CEO and director, Super Plastronics Pvt Ltd

The Kodak brand is becoming popular in the television segment also, Avneet Singh Marwah tells Ritwik Sharma.

How does Super Plastronics gain from being the licensee partner for Kodak selling consumer electronics under the multinational’s brand name and vice-versa?

Kodak is more than 125 years old, and it has been present in consumer products for more than 100 years. It’s one of the companies with the highest brand recall and biggest brand equity in the world. And given its presence in India for many years, Kodak’s strategy was to transform a photography brand to video. Digitalisation was the best way for getting into television, and they had to connect with customers, from photo to video. That is why we are getting very good response throughout India.

Kodak and SPPL (Super Plastronics Pvt Ltd) gelled together. Kodak is present in almost 93 countries. They look to partner only with people who have experience in a particular business. Super Plastronics is more than 25 years old. We began with manufacturing CRT televisions, and then we transferred to LEDs. We were OEMs to many brands, and having our own brands also. We were looking for a multinational for a JV, therefore we became a licensee. The other reason is that we wanted to utilise the infrastructure that we have in the country. We have around 28 offices and more than 350 service centres.

What are the strategies for SPPL in terms of growth and expansion?

We have our own R&D centre, so we always try to follow the market position and consumer behaviour. We keep innovating our products. For instance, all our TV models have a sound output of 20 watt. In any other country, they need quality sound because if it’s loud it would create trouble for neighbours. Whereas in India consumers want really high volume while listening to music or movies. For one of our 32-inch TVs, which is a basic model and has the highest selling SKUs, we have made a product that has 30 watt of sound output, which in terms of volume is one of the highest in the world.

The company is really focused on smart televisions. Therefore, the OSD (on-screen display) that we are using is one of the exclusive ones. When we launched our TV the memory comprised 512 RAM and 4GB ROM. We try to innovate our products every few months, and adapt to the market responses quickly by developing the product accordingly. SPPL has four-way backward integrated plant, so we have everything in-house.

Kodak is a household name when it comes to photography. But with television, does it face a challenge in terms of perception among consumers? How do you counter it?

Firstly, we counter that with our specifications and our comparison charts. Kodak has entered a category, where there are many brands. Whenever we showcase our products, be it online or offline, we always talk about the specifications. The USP of our specs are the things that I already mentioned, so that promises the difference. Also, one more key difference is affordability. If you see online also, our prices are one of the best across television brands. And our main motive is how to give the same technology in a better price.

As a new brand, what is your target audience? And where do you identify the growth opportunities in this segment?

When we entered, especially in the online market, it was even-steven for us. What we are seeing now is that after one year the target audience, and you will be surprised to know, includes upper middle class, middle class and lower middle class. It’s because the brand name is so popular in India. If you consider camera too, the target audience is also almost everybody, from rural to urban. So that advantage we have now started noticing in television also. If you talk about middle class or upper middle class groups they go for TV sizes from 40 to 55 inches. If you talk about lower middle class or a youth they opt for a 32-inch smart and for rural segment - that's offline, countryside, upcountry - it's 24-inch. So we have television for all categories. Now, our strategy is to have 4K 55- and 65-inch models, again at a very affordable price with all the specs. So, we are also targeting that particular audience which only goes for high-end and multinational products.