Headphonezone.In

In conversation with Raghav Somani – Founder/CEO Headphone Zone

 

Headphone Zone (www.headphonezone.in) is India's first exclusive online store for Headphones, Earphones and Personal Audio devices. A unique retail concept combining Music, Electronics and Style, Headphone Zone aims to find a niche in the rapidly growing category in India's

E-Commerce space. A destination store for discovering the world's finest Headphone brands, Headphone Zone focuses bringing the best music listening devices from around the world to India's passionate music listening population.

“The brand started out in 2011 as an exclusive headphone and earphone offline retail store and quickly scaled up to operate 6 stores in Chennai and Bangalore. Since then the focus has shifted primarily to the webstore, which went online on 1st January, 2015.”

“It's no secret that Indians have in the past few years discovered how to shop online like never before. Although online sellers such as Amazon, Flipkart and eBay had become really good at taking our products to the hinterland of India's towns and cities, they still knew nothing about headphones. Thus, the idea of bringing Headphone Zone directly to music enthusiasts in the form of our webstore - www.headphonezone.in, was conceived,” says Raghav Somani, Founder & CEO of Headphone Zone.

Headphone Zone has differentiated itself from the start by being an exclusive brand for headphones and earphones. India's growing community of audiophiles warranted for a platform through which its premium brands could be showcased. That's precisely what a brand like Headphone Zone strives to create.

Headphone Zone is supported by Ferrari Video, India's premier distributor of Headphones and Audio-Video Accessories, owned and operated by the Somani Family. Raghav Somani is an 8th generation entrepreneur from the Somani Family which traces its corporate history since 1696.

Setting up the Venture

After completing his education in business management in Singapore, Raghav Somani came back to India to take over the family business which at the time was primarily focusing on the distribution of Video Tapes and Audio-Video accessories. “I realised then that most big retailers had little to no understanding of electronic accessories such as headphones or earphones and consumers had little understanding or options. A dedicated destination store for Headphones and Earphones didn't exist in India and Consumers were looking for options to fill the gap, and I knew Headphone Zone could work.”

Brand Headphonezone

Headphone Zone has focused on communicating to its consumers that a premium headphone alone is not enough for a premium music listening experience and so the focus is on complementary accessories and devices such as headphone amplifiers, high resolution audio players, headphone stands, earphone cases and premium in-ear earphone tips. Headphone Zone represents international brands from Milano designed V-MODA, high-resolution handcrafted headphones from Audeze, premium earphone tips from Comply, music players, amps and DACs from FiiO, RHA earphones that are from Scotland, JAYS from Sweden, and others.

Generating Business

Headphone Zone maintains a simple online retail business model of procuring products from international brands and manufacturers and fulfilling orders using India's various logistics and courier solutions.

“It is not a marketplace model like a Flipkart or an Amazon, for the simple reason that we want to cater to our customers in a meaningful way by giving them a premium shopping experience and by ensuring personal service. The focus is on education, premium product discovery and excellent customer service,” says Raghav.

Headphone Zone operates from Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Delhi with a core team of five working out of Mumbai. Besides this, Headphone Zone is supported by 25 operational staff across the country. Dispatches and deliveries to any customer in India are made possible as Headphone Zone has tied up with multiple courier partners such as Fedex, Delhivery, & Aramex to name a few.

Once we receive an order on our webstore, we call up our customer to confirm it, especially if it is a high-value product. Usually it takes up to 4 working days before a customer receives his headphones. We have both a pre and post sale customer service system. Anyone browsing through the website can schedule an appointment in order to consult one of our in-house experts for a time convenient to them. This is when we engage with our customer personally to assist him in identifying and discovering the right gear for them. One can also Consult an Expert through live chat. Post the sale, all Headphone Zone customers receive a copy of The Mixtape HD; an invite to the next Headphone Connect; and are privy to exclusive headphone news, deals and offers. We also ask our customers to write a review of their product detailing their experience, and their opinions on all the nuances of sound.

Prospects and Customers

The addressable market for headphones and its accessories share similarities with that for high-end personal audio products in India. Our customers range from regular music lovers to serious audiophiles and professionals. In all our marketing strategies, our target customers comprise of males between the ages of 20 to 50 years. The market of high-end audio products has seen a steady widening what with the urban Indian population being a relatively early technology adopter.

 

Headphone Zone reaches out to passionate music listeners by hosting Headphone Connect:  a “meetup” event that unites headphone aficionados and Head-Fiers from the audiophile community under one roof. So far events have been hosted in cities like Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi with the aim of hosting more “meetups” in cities like Chennai, Kolkata, Pune and Hyderabad. The audiophile community is one that is fast growing with Headphone Zone at the centre of it and organizing “meetups” frequently across multiple cities simultaneously allows Headphone Zone to keep in touch and build meaningful relationships with loyalists, while expanding its customer base.

Revenue Model

The revenue model is driven by cross selling relevant accessories to an audience simply interested in headphones. Rather than focusing on steep discounts, Headphone Zone channels its energy into developing great content, building a community and offering personal attention to each customer. “Buying headphones was earlier an impulse purchase or involved bargain hunting. With our webstore, we want to educate passionate music listeners about the various accessories available that both complement and complete the listening experience.”

Headphone Zone had decided recently to focus solely on High-End and Premium Headphones and Earphones for a niche and passionate audience. A bold move in hindsight it fundamentally required a re-organization in the business model for the better.

“Building an audience and educating them about the nuances of High-End audio has been a challenge. The current eCommerce scenario in India has made buyers a Deal-Hungry audience and building a reputation of offering transparent and fair prices without indulging in excessive discounting is an on-going challenge.”

Sales Performance

“We have witnessed the devolution of offline retail as a whole and our retail stores have taken a hit. As a result, we've had to close down 2 of our retail stores in Bangalore and Mumbai. However, since having launched our webstore,www.headphonezone.in has seen a tremendous month-on-month growth in sales. Over the last quarter, we have seen an 80% sales growth. We're currently targeting higher sales but at a slower growth rate,” says Raghav.

From the initial days, the webstore has gained considerable traction and seen a 45% month-on-month increase. HeadphoneZone.in is currently averaging over 60,000 visitors a month; but this number is quickly growing. Headphone Zone is successfully able to to leverage the growth today in the eCommerce space and reach out to customers all across the country. For product discovery, consumers have moved from showrooms and malls to informed online research through forums and blogs. As a result, Headphone Zone has followed the consumer and shifted its focus from the retail stores to the online webstore.

Headphone Zone has dedicated its attention towards building an audience for its webstore. By maintaining a fast paced growth curve, the store is able to reach out to new users across India. Headphone Zone has reached out to consumers from 153 Indian cities. “We find that our consumers who are interested in high-end music devices are beyond just Tier I cities like Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, & Chennai and include Tier II & III cities like Ghaziabad, Vadodara, and Trivandrum.”

Steering Headphonezone Ahead

Raghav Somani and his team aim to take Headphone Zone to the length and breadth of music listeners in India. Headphone Zone plans to remain focused on Headphones, Earphones and related accessories as a category and maintain its niche while making available several new prominent high-end international headphone brands in India. Building a strong audiophile community in India is the key to maintaining an audience for its products and Headphone Connect “meetup” events are planned for several small cities and towns where passionate music listeners can experience a wide range of High-End Headphones and earphones.

 

About Raghav Somani

Raised in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Pursued education in Business Management at Singapore Management University. A 8th generation entrepreneur, he comes from a business family that has its roots in business since 1696 in various sectors such as commodities trading, manufacturing and financial services. Raghav says, “I felt passionately about Entrepreneurship and upon graduating in 2010, I decided to come back to India to work with the family business which at the time was involved in distribution of Video Tapes and Audio-Video Accessories.”

His hobbies include collecting Airline Baggage Tags. He holds a Guinness World Record for the largest collection in the world. Raghav is a passionate musician.