Aiwa India to focus on experiential retail; no immediate plans to enter e-commerce 

NEW DELHI: Japanese consumer durables firm Aiwa, which recently entered the television market in India, is planning on bringing its Audio Visual products into the market through experiential retail, the company’s managing director Ajay Mehta told The New Indian Express.

He said the company would be comfortably present at around 600-800 retail stores in the top 20 cities in India by Diwali, after which they will touch upon Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. Mehta said Aiwa’s products would be in the semi-premium to premium category.

The company's MD said that their strategy is different from other brands, as it has consciously stayed away from e-commerce at the moment and is focusing on offline retail.

To begin, the company won't have a very strong online presence as the online space is very riddled with deep discounting and we are not a discount brand, he added.

"Our speakers, as well as our TV, are experience-led buying, we want to focus deeply on the retail and we will ensure that the consumer has experience using the product. This strategy worked very well with us for our audio products," he said.

Without giving any names, he said the company is in talks with some of the large retail groups in India.

Mehta added that the company is not averse to online, but will look at it once they have provided people with the experience. “We're investing a lot of money and time, whether it's in branding, remote visits, educating the dealer or educating their salespersons.”

The company has recently launched its TV series named MAGNIFIQ. Mehta said that the company’s products would be priced 20-30 per cent lower in comparison to established brands like Sony, LG and Samsung. Aiwa is aiming at $1 billion in revenue from India in five years.