Riversong India, a subsidiary of Chinese headquartered IMG Technology Group, is proving to be a notable exception in India’s highly competitive consumer tech market. Despite entering the Indian market as late as 2017 – when the market was already over-crowded with deep pocket competitors & big brands – Riversong India has managed to make quite a splash in the market.
In less than two years, the brand has been able to reach their end consumer through 12,500 + MBOs and SIS. The product portfolio of the brand ranges from audio products like sports wireless earphones, headphones & speakers, fitness wearables like smart fitness tracker & smart watch , smart home appliances like smart bulbs, smart plugs to charging cables, portable chargers etc.
Today the company is aiming to clock annual revenue of Rs 100 crore by the year 2020.
Techpluto caught up with Riversong India’s CEO Mr. Manvendra K Chandola in an exclusive interview. In this interview, Mr. Manvendra has shed light on Riversong India’s future plans, newly launched products, existing competition in the industry and various other important factors.
Considering that Riversong entered India’s tech market pretty late, how do you view the company’s growth so far?
Ans – Riversong entered in the Indian tech market in the year 2017 through online channels and started the offline business in January 2019. The company growth has been higher than we expected so far. We were waiting for the right time to enter the Indian market, and when we realized that the need for accessories and smart gadgets have increased enormously, we began our operations here. The conceptualized entrance worked in our favour and we are now present in 18 states of India and should mark our presence PAN India by the end of this year.
Currently Riversong offers tech products under four categories – Smart wearables, Smart home, Power and Audio. Do you plan to add any other new vertical or product category in the near future?
Ans – As of now our main focus is to establish our self into smart device category and cater to the masses according to their need. Apart from smart wearables, IoT products, power bank and BT Headset, we have a lot of opportunities ahead of us and will surely explore those. It is very important to grow in one vertical before entering another one and move forward in an organized manner. So our primary focus is to build ourselves as one of the leading accessories and smart devices brands which will certainly gain consumers’ trust.
Riversong recently launched its first smartwatch ‘Motive’ in the market. Can you please shed some light on Motive’s key features?
Ans – Motive is a sleek and fashionable smart watch designed for smartphone users, the biggest USP of this product is that it is compatible with both android and iOS. The watch can assist users with 24-hour real-time changes in heart rate that indicates adequate amount of exercise for an individual. It notifies the user about incoming calls, messages, emails etc., thus making their lives easier and faster while on the go. Riversong Motive is a high-quality smartwatch available in affordable price.
But smart-watch space is ruthlessly competitive with some big players like Samsung & Apple jostling for the market share. How do you plan to cope with this hyper competition existing in this space?
Ans – Riversong is catering to the consumer needs as per their requirement and choices. Our first smart-watch Motive comprises of all the major features that any other smart-watches have. The best thing about the watch is the price it comes for, a budget-friendly and convenient option for the consumers to buy.
You currently have two products in the fitness space – Wave BP and Act HR. How do you see the overall growth prospect in India’s fitness tracking market?
Ans – India’s fitness tracking market is growing at a rapid pace, people have become much enthusiastic and conscious about fitness. Owing to the fact that everyone is taking various initiatives to make India fit, this is creating a lot of awareness amongst the audiences. We are certain that the fitness products will see a boom in the market.
Riversong’s parent company – IMG Technology Group – is based in China and therefore I am little curious how come your company has given a complete miss to the smartphone market. This question is in the context of the tremendous success that Chinese companies have achieved in India’s smartphone market?
Ans – We are a group company of IMG technology which is the OEM for different Handset Companies. So far, we have been receiving good response and maximum support from the partner companies so we have decided to continue as an OEM for now. We are committed to our vendors to whom we are providing Smart / Feature Phones and we will continue to manufacture smartphones for them.
Is Riversong currently in talks with any investor to raise external funding?
Ans – No we are not in discussion with any of the investors as of now. we have enough funds to invest as per our plan.
Where do you see Riversong in next 2-3 years in terms of growth and market expansion?
Ans – Riversong entered the Indian market with a long term plan of capturing the smart devices and accessory market. We have been an organized player in the industry for the past two years. We started our offline journey in January 2019 and currently have our presence in 12,500 SIS & MBOs. The Indian market is now opening up to us and we hope to continue the growth graph here on. We aim to make it to 25,000 by the end of this year and we look forward to see ourselves amongst the top three players in the next couple of years.
What is your view on India’s current consumer tech industry?
Ans – The Indian consumer technology market is growing at a rapid pace as it is estimated to grow up to 1.9 billion by 2020. India has an immense potential for the growth of new brands and products as we see a major shift in the consumer behaviour in the Indian technology market. Brands have observed the gap for smart gadgets and accessories in the market and are now launching innovative gadgets to fill the gap. However, the Indian tech market still needs to grab a lot of new trendy gadgets to up their game in comparison to the global market.
How do you see IOT’s (Internet of Things) future with respect to its impact on human life?
Ans – In today’s world of smart technology, everyone is getting smarter and faster. It’s not just smart watches, smart phones and smart audio products but smart home devices are the new big thing in the world of technology. The IoT products are definitely making human lives easier and expedient. It feels so great to see our country opening up to new technologies. These evolutions in the tech industry is making life smoother, like operating your home appliances using your smartphone. Aware of the fact that IoT market have a lot of potential, Riversong has entered into this vertical as well. We have two IoT products as of now Juno (smart plug) and Infix (smart bulb) and the responses have been positive so far.