Mobile accessories brand Pebble ventures into new business channels

Alongside the evolution of technology, the accessories market in India is booming. Mobile Accessories, being a category of products that are used 24/7 in our daily lives, still remain majorly an unorganised, unbranded market with no clear quality standards. On the extreme end, there are certain brands trying to provide higher quality products, however at a huge cost, which is unacceptable to the consumer. Due to this, consumers continue to purchase and use low-quality products that do not last long and have thus become accustomed to a use-and-throw practice in this category. Thus, in the last 5- 6 years, there has been a clear need for a standardised high-quality brand in the mobile accessories segment that is affordable and consumers can easily rely on.

The current market size of the Indian mobile accessories is around Rs 8,000 Cr. According to an Allied Market study, the global market for mobile phone accessories is expected to garner $107.3 billion by 2022. But the problem that exists in India’s grey market – where 80% of the accessories come from unbranded vendors, sources. It is this basic problem that Pebble, as a brand, is looking to problem solve for.

Potential for accessories segment to grow is 10-fold; though most of them are imported “This market will grow as much as mobile phones. The market will grow as much as mobile phones. The accessories market can easily be twice or even thrice that of smartphones since a customer would typically buy at least two for a phone.

• While the market might be huge, Pebble might find success in the new business channels it is entering in, established players exist in each of its product lineups – be it speakers, headphones or VR headsets. These players have cash reserves, global distribution networks, as well as brand loyalty from having existed for decades. How Pebble will be able to attract customers beyond certain strata is the next challenge for the company, as well as achieving scale in the regions it hopes to expand in.
• Pebble operates on a B2B model and is available across channels such as – mom and pop stores, online platforms, and retail chains. The SKUs are sold on a per unit basis, after being rigorously quality tested with an ISO 9001 stamp. The products get manufactured in China via subcontractors and are warehoused in Delhi, from where they are shipped to the various channels.We discovered early on that with the advent of smartphones, power banks were a huge market. The only market we wanted for the first two years. In fact, according to Komal, in 2014 – the product had penetrated into 12 states across India and the sales team had to expand to keep up with increasing demand. As disclosed by Komal, the company generated a turnover of INR 3 Cr in FY 2013-2014.
• The B2B model also underwent a bit of an expansion in 2014, with Pebble capturing a fairly new and not-thought-of vertical, which has since turned into their biggest market, in terms of revenue.

Resource: http://www.financialexpress.com

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