Dizo India intends to beat industry avg, hopeful of 4x growth in 2022

Technology is making deep inroads into all the spaces of our lives. This trend has accelerated with the Covid pandemic. Smart wearables like smart watch, wireless headphones and many more are bringing in a new paradigm into the entertainment and healthcare space. Dizo, the technology firm founded by industry veterans, is making waves since its launch in India. In a short span of time, Dizo has emerged as one of the fastest growing brands in India and figured in the top ten smart brand list. In a conversation with the Bizz Buzz, Abhilash Panda, CEO, Dizo India, said that the company is leveraging Realme's Techlife ecosystem to provide best of the world technology and design services to Indian consumers. The company, which has already crossed the revenue of Rs100 crore, plans to launch 30 products in 2022. With wide adoption of smart wearables, the company is hopeful of growing four times than the industry growth rate this year

Because of the pandemic, work from home operating model has been widely adopted, which facilitate multitasking. Secondly, fitness has emerged as an important area due to the Covid. People want to gauge their vital parameters through smart watch. This area is also ever evolving. Smart watch segment is growing very fast with wider adoption of these products across consumers. Brands are investing heavily to enable this switch. This will ensure that Rs2,000 to Rs 3,000 price brand will be the biggest in coming years

We have received very overwhelming response from consumers. In the first month of launch of Dizo wireless and Dizo Buds Z, we have been placed in the top-10 brands in Flipkart. We have also received good response to our smart watch product. Our rating has been spectacular all through. Within five month of launch, we have crossed one million consumers. Subsequently, our revenue has also crossed Rs100 crore in five months

Will you throw some light on Dizo's journey so far? Also, provide some insights into Dizo's association with Realme?

Dizo is a global technology brand. It is the first technology brand in the Realme's Techlife ecosystem. We are an independent global technology brand, which was founded by like-minded industry veterans. We operate across regions like Asia, Africa, Europe, North America & South America. In India, we are a private limited company, which is led by Indian professionals in the country. India is a focused market for Dizo and we aim to be the most-loved AIoT brand in the country.

As far as our association with Realme is concerned, I want to highlight a few things. Realme has certain criteria for its Techlife ecosystem and Dizo became the first brand to qualify those selection criteria. We take help from Realme across three focused areas, which are industrial design, supply chain and AIoT experience. In terms of management, we are completely different companies. We have separate product and marketing teams, and we have our own mission and vision statement.

How has been the response of consumers to the recent product launches of Dizo?

We have received very overwhelming response from consumers. In the first month of launch of Dizo wireless and Dizo Buds Z, we have been placed in the top-10 brands in Flipkart. We have also received good response to our smart watch product. Our rating has been spectacular all through. Within five month of launch, we have crossed one million consumers. Subsequently, our revenue has also crossed Rs100 crore in five months.

How do you see the smart wearables market as of now? Do you see enough market opportunities despite rising competition?

Wearable market is growing very fast. It is doubling year-on-year. Though it is a competitive market with many players operating in this space, since the market is growing, we will see even more competition coming in the next three-four years.

As far as competitors are concerned, we are not looking at them (at this point of time) because we are very young. We are focusing more on ourselves. Our differentiating factors can be summarised in four points. Firstly, we are a global brand and we take advantage of the global supply chain to ensure the highest quality for our customers. Secondly, we provide great consumer experience. It is not only about the hardware, but it is also about the software. We have our app to support the consumer experience. The third point is design. The last thing about our brand. As a brand, we are cool, genuine, different and humorous.

How do you see the smart watch segment evolving in coming years? Will there be enough margin for players operating in the affordable smart watch segment?

Smart watch segment is growing very fast with wider adoption of these products across consumers. Brands are investing heavily to enable this switch. This will ensure that Rs2,000 to Rs3,000 price brand will be the biggest in coming years.

'China plus one' as a theme is playing out across the globe. Indian government is giving many incentives to support manufacturing sector through PLI schemes. Will you look at leveraging such schemes in coming years?

We are currently taking advantage of the global supply chain. We have to understand that for a brand to take advantage of these schemes, it has to have certain scale. We are actively looking at localisation opportunities. Our feature phones are manufactured in India itself. In the recent budget also, there are various incentives that have been offered for local manufacturing. We are in talks with all the partners in India to take advantage of these incentive-programmes.

As far as funding is concerned, how are you placed right now? Will you look at raising funds as the company scales up?

As far as funding is concerned, we are adequately funded. That is not a challenge right now. When the time comes, right steps will be taken. Our financial capability is strong enough to invest in 3-4 years.

How do you see the wearable market evolving for Dizo in coming years?

The market is doubling year-on-year basis. Because of the pandemic, work from home operating model has been widely adopted, which facilitate multitasking. Secondly, fitness has emerged as an important area due to the Covid. People want to gauge their vital parameters through smart watch. This area is also ever evolving. These gadgets are also not about technology. It is increasingly becoming fashion statements. Dizo is in the right space. In 2022, we aim to be the most loved and the top AIoT brand in the country. We plan to launch 30 products in 2022. This year, we plan to grow 4 times of the market growth rate. In the long-term, we want to be part of the smart techlife ecosystem, entering every household. We are focused on our basics. If your product quality is good and offering to customers is sound, other things will come. We ensure that as we scale up, we want to provide best customer experience to our users.