Decoding newcomer DIZO’s gameplan for wearables & AIoT-enabled devices market

Despite being a recent entrant in the Indian market, DIZO is confident of carving a space for itself in India’s booming wearables and AIoT-enabled devices market. The global technology brand is the first brand in the Realme TechLife ecosystem. With its brand tagline, ‘Be Different’, DIZO seeks to bring ‘Smart Tech Life for Every Different You’.

The company has aggressively priced its products and wants to break the price limitation that comes with the premiumness of a product.

In conversation with Adgully, Abhilash Panda, CEO, DIZO India, is very confident about the company’s product, pricing and audience segmentation strategy. With technology being their strength and forte, DIZO has a different take on bring premium products for the mass market.

There are some leading brands in the personal devices space and smart entertainment segment. How is your brand DIZO bringing in that key differentiation to woo customers?

SCREENXX Awards 2021 Last Date for nomination of Digital Video Content and OTT Platform.. - Monday, September 20, 2021 - ENTRIES OPEN

We know that humans are complex animals. As consumers, we are even more complex and varied even in choosing for the same category of a product. One thing that stands out when it comes to marketplace dynamics is that consumers relish choices. However, the personal devices and smart entertainment segment have umpteen brands that offer products with the same specs at any price point as well as similarities in the design language.

We like to believe that the difference lies between what the brand stands for and the personality that it carries. And DIZO is for the ones who choose to ‘Be different’ and we come with a singular mission to offer a ‘Smart TechLife for Every Different You’.

And as a brand we want to resonate with a brand which is Different, Genuine, Cool, Humorous and Surprising.

We want to provide the options to consumers and let them choose what they believe is best suited to their personality and compliment their lifestyles. We are focusing on bringing the latest premium technologies and top quality AIoT experience, with aggressively priced products to our consumers.

What’s your overall marketing plan and strategy for the India market? Could you elaborate on the manufacturing plans and how do you plan to work on your distribution to reach the last mile?

DIZO is a brand for anyone and everyone who is interested in tech and is looking for personalised and unique experiences. Like I said earlier, as a brand we want to resonate as a brand which is Different, Genuine, Cool, Humorous and Surprising.

In terms of products, we expect to have around 20 in our portfolio by the end of this year – all of them high on specs, design and lifestyle and the most importantly, competitive prices to meet the different consumer needs. And this is what we want to tell our consumers as a marketing strategy, while we actually ensure the same is delivered.

About manufacturing, for now, our products are being manufactured at various global facilities in different countries. But, we are also proactively planning on localisation in India. In fact, we have partnered with OEMs here and are assembling the feature phones here in India only.

Flipkart is our partner for online sales and as part of our long-term commitment to India, we do have plans for a larger offline presence, and we are already working on it.

How are you leveraging the technology strengths of Realme for DIZO products? On the innovation front, what are the new products in the pipeline?

DIZO is part of the Realme TechLife ecosystem and hence, shares the same aspirations in terms of R&D focus and manufacturing standards. We are their partner brand and have their support in 3 key aspects – Industrial Design, Supply Chain and AIoT Experience. Moreover, they are there to help us with their expertise, whenever required.

Having said so, DIZO as an individual brand, has its own manifesto, market strategy, and is centred around its own mission and vision. We have independent management, sales & marketing teams as well as an operational set-up, including the R&D personnel, working at a global as well as local scale in different countries.

In terms of product innovation, there is a huge portfolio of products being planned across varied categories that include smart entertainment, smart home, smart care and accessories. However, in the near future, our major focus will be on the ‘smart entertainment’ category and specially, the wearables.

We launched our products in India starting from July this year. Within just a few months we have 9 products and 2 more launching on September 15, 2021. The DIZO Watch, DIZO GoPods D, DIZO Wireless and two features phones are there, followed by recent launches, including DIZO GoPods and GoPods Neo, DIZO Trimmer Plus and DIZO Hair Dryer. DIZO Watch 2 and DIZO Watch Pro with amazing design and features and at very competitive prices are upcoming. There are many more in the pipeline.

DIZO has entered into the list of top 10 brands by Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) in the Flipkart hearables category in July, which is a first time ever for a new brand in this segment to achieve this in a month’s time and that too with only two products – DIZO GoPods D and DIZO Wireless.

Technology always excites the new generation and the millennium audiences. How do you plan to engage with these audiences to promote your range of products?

I have a slightly different point of view – while I agree that technology does excite the millennium audiences, most brands skip the lifestyle aspect here. Like I said, the products have to resonate with the consumers’ lifestyle choices and complement them in their fashion aesthetics at the same time. Same goes for the brand that it has to personify the likes and daily habits of the consumer to become a brand they actually follow and look forward to, along with the technology that it brings.

At DIZO, our aim is to always try our best to bring premium products and features to the mass market. Our focus is to provide the latest, most innovative and high quality AIoT products with trendy designs at a competitive price that will provide our customers with more and better choices and in the process also make their lives easier and better.

The upcoming DIZO Watch 2 will have the biggest screen, which is 1.69 inch, under Rs 3,000 range. It will also have multiple colour options for the consumers to choose from. We are also giving an opportunity to our consumers to design watch faces for the product, which are again being promoted by influencers with unique personalities and this is just the beginning. In the future, we might also ask for the colour variant options from our consumers, before making them and ask for suggestions in product design and names, etc.

By doing all this, we want to connect with our consumers as a brand, who is Different, Genuine, Cool, Humorous and Surprising.

What’s going to be the pricing strategy and how do you plan to handle the customer grievances as that is very important for technology led products? 

We wish to break the price limitation that comes with the premiumness of a product. Our focus will remain on providing high quality AIoT products that make the life of our customers easier and better. All this, but without charging a bomb for them.

In terms of managing customer complaints or queries in the post sales phase, we have laid out a solid network of over 320+ service centres in place in over 310+ cities across the country and this number will expand gradually. A plus point is that these are tried and tested consumer support agencies that Realme and Flipkart work with. We also have DIZO Squad, the community for our consumers, where they can share information, make complaints and suggestions to us.

What kind of growth strategy do you envisage for the next 5-10 years? Are you also looking at exports from India?

India is a booming market for wearables and AIoT enabled devices. The next decade looks exciting to us and frankly we are positive that we will be able to offer differentiated products for every different consumer, addressing their everyday needs to remain connected to their outer world. Right now, as mentioned above, we are focusing on getting the initial offering right, communicating with our target customer base, lining up a strong product portfolio and strengthening after sales services.

If we get this right, the next 5-10 years should be easy. Localisation, offline expansion and continuing to narrow the distance with our consumers from all the sides are definitely there in the plan. For now, our products are being manufactured at various global facilities. India as a manufacturing hub has immense potential and we plan to develop it as one of the primary manufacturing bases for DIZO in the global scheme of things, but in the long run.

(Edited & Additional Inputs by Shanta Saikia.)