AIWA plans to expand product portfolio, retail footprints in India

Japanese consumer electronics brand AIWA, which earlier this year re-entered the Indian market, is expanding its product portfolio and retail footprints in the country and aims to have sales of one billion dollar in the next five years, said a top company official.

AIWA India is going to introduce a line of luxury Hi-Fi speakers in September, followed by air-purifiers and TV panels by the end of this year.

"These are steps towards our aim to go for a one billion dollar topline business in India in next five years," AIWA India Managing Director Ajay Mehta told PTI.

AIWA has re-entered India after a span of 18 years.

According to the company, presently it is in a setup mode and expects sales of around Rs 100 crore in this calendar year.

AIWA is quite encouraged after getting a good response from the customers in its second innings as the brand is very "recognisable" here, Mehta said.

"We are very encouraged by the response we are getting from consumers," he said, adding "we hope now with the direct presence of AIWA India... we will be able to resolve any issues and will be able to achieve the desired dream of a billion-dollar topline."

As per its strategy, AIWA will offer products having a Japanese legacy at a reasonable price and will not compete with the rivals by lowering its prices.

The company has plans to get its TV manufactured in India, while the audio products and others are imported from its global factories, Mehta added.

The company launched a full line of personal audio products in April this year, and received a good response.

AIWA has partnered with Amazon for its online and Reliance Digital for offline sales and is now expanding to other channels also.

"AIWA is available online on Amazon and through Reliance Digital stores, 200 stores across India, we have started selling in general trade from July onwards. We are also talking with Croma," Mehta added.

Besides, in the long term, AIWA has also planned to introduce several other products including compressor-based cooling products into the domestic market.