A young man who was turned down by companies, clients, and even coworkers. Who would have thought that this young man would create a $6 billion corporation in just five years?
A company that no one had heard of five years ago now sells 10,000+ things every day. Boat is the market leader for earphones in India with a 35.8% market share. It’s interesting to note that Boat makes 6 out of every 10 sold earbuds in India. Even though JBL, Noise, and MIVI are market rivals, the question still remains.
How did Aman Gupta make Boat the most wearable brand in India in just five years; and the Powerful business lessons we can learn and implement in our business.
Table of Contents
Story of Boat
When Aman Gupta founded Boat in 2016, the Indian earphone industry was already very crowded. But the actual story begins in 2014, before the two-year mark. JBL’s first foray into the Indian market. Aman Gupta used to work at JBL during the time. Aman Gupta was enthralled with JBL’s expansion in India. He then made the decision to enter the Indian wearable industry after this. He predicted a significant change when he was researching the market. The move was from a seller to a buyer market. In other words, in the past, the product was manufactured first, and then the target market was considered. However, the consumer’s demands and wishes are being studied before the product is really made.
Indian Market used to be a market that was dominated by sellers. This indicates that there were fewer suppliers and more purchasers. But the circumstance has evolved now. Indian markets are become buyers’ markets. There are fewer buyers than there are sellers. There were more earphone vendors than buyers in India for JBL, SkullCandy, Boult, Noise, and MIVI.
after researching the tastes and preferences of Indian consumers. They have already introduced successful products to the market. Therefore, the question is: What did Aman Gupta do that today Boat’s market share is greater than the combined market share of these companies? I’m sure a lot of people will respond, “Boat is here because of their incredible marketing.” Products will sell if they use Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, and Kartik Aaryan in their advertisements. Boat’s marketing is not what makes them successful. Their formula for success involves a new tactic.
Boat execution Strategy
when Boat first came onto the scene in 2016. More than 200 earphone brands were available at that time. Boat did not create a new product category or make any product innovations. The Implementation Strategy used by Boat conceals the true secret of its success. Therefore, Boat’s execution plan consists of Market Force 1 and Market Force 2.
These two together constitute consumers behavioral patterns. Market insights, consumer habits, pricing, and marketing communication come after human behavior. The customer’s purchase decision is the last step. launched a boat in 2016. Fortunately, something else occurred at that time. Jio debuted the same year as well. These 2 events occurred following the introduction of Jio: an increase in content consumption; People began consuming more content after Jio arrived. Because consumers did not have as much access to the Internet before Jio, they could not consume as much information. The demand for mid-range smartphones also increased after Jio’s arrival. Because you obviously need a phone to consume stuff.
Therefore, JIO and Smartphone Companies were the two main forces. such as OnePlus, Vivo, Realme, and Oppo. Because of these two factors, people no longer look at their phones five or six times every day. People now spend 40% of their time watching movies, watching videos, listening to music, and playing video games. And as a result, market insights were completely altered. More than 50% of individuals now consume audio and video. Also, screen time increased by 70%. Many people desired to use cellphones and high speed internet after seeing others using Jio. These spawned new consumer behaviors on the market.
Now, content was frequently consumed by people. During the process of observing these individuals, They saw that even those without cellphones or earbuds wanted to consume content. These people wanted to participate in the Internet Revolution, but they had small pockets. Earphone sales, a complementary good, increased as a result of the entry of businesses like Jio and MI. People now only demanded earphones. People actually wanted earphones, irrespective of the company or brand. Boat’s earbuds were introduced by Aman Gupta after researching market dynamics.
Boat Pricing Strategy
Now that individuals have access to high-speed internet, adequate sound quality is required in order to enjoy movies and videos. Earphones that cost less than 300 rupees at the time had terrible audio quality. And high-quality earphones started at 999 rupees. These were somewhat reduced in price by JBL to 799Rs. Still, more than half of the population found this to be expensive. And Boat released its earphones deftly, pricing them at 299 and 799 rupees. Earphone’s Intricate Differentiation drove Boat’s popularity.
Folks who don’t work in the video or audio industries. They find it challenging to distinguish between earphones priced at 500 and 2000 rupees. Although slight, there are differences. Therefore, the experience of using earphones, whether they cost 500 rupees or 2000 rupees, is the same for us. People couldn’t tell the difference between the 1500–2000 rupee earphones made by other firms and the 300–400 rupee headphones made by Boat. And as a result, these individuals generally chose boats.
Boat Business Lessons
What are some effective business lessons we can apply to our own operations? The ultimate driving factor is symbiosis. You must have noticed that a lot of wonderful new products entered the market. However, these products also fell short. Therefore, there is only one possible explanation: a lack of symbiosis. Symbiosis is defined as a cooperative effort to survive. Any service or product in the market is born as a result of another service or product.
Consider the scenario where Jio isn’t present. If so, would you be browsing YouTube? Additionally, you wouldn’t be able to watch this video if you weren’t using YouTube. Jio’s introduction into the market led to the success of other businesses. And many other firms prospered as a result of that one. And this is what we mean when we talk about symbiosis, which is when people work together to ensure that one another survives. By doing this, you will observe how many possibilities other companies pass up. The same thing was done by Boat.
Pricing may either give you wings or kill you. Pricing is a Two-Edged Sword, as they say. When products are priced correctly, the firm can benefit greatly. However, if there is a pricing error, it can potentially ruin the company. Boat set highly competitive prices on their goods. Both the functionality and aspiration of the customer were fully satisfied.
Love your purpose more than your product. We commonly make this misjudgment in business. Falling in love with your products is the mistake. We develop feelings about our products. Additionally, this item poses a risk. In the real world, you are solely compensated for your accomplishments. Only the items on which you have put your all will you receive praise in the actual world. Similar to how we dismiss customer complaints and product flaws when we become emotionally attached to our products. And we consistently believe that our product is the greatest. In this situation, we are unable to modify our products to meet consumer needs. The purpose should therefore be loved and cherished rather than the product.