“Hammer controls 1.7% of the share in Indian audio market”: Interaction with Mr Rohit Nandwani, COO Hammer

HAMMER is an Audio and Fitness Tech Brand, making truly wireless audio devices and fitness bands. It is providing a stylish and extraordinary range in audio and fitness devices for a healthy lifestyle and comfort.

This Panipat (India) based technology startup –has embarked on this journey to leverage comfort, durability, and performance in every product. HAMMER design and manufacture a variety of audio accessories and wearables accessories, with truly wireless earphones (TWS) being the main product category.

In the health and fitness realm, HAMMER specializes in manufacturing fitness bands and activity trackers. These gadgets help collect important health metrics and give an accurate update on your fitness journey. The data collected can be extremely helpful in developing
healthy lifestyles by improving exercise efficiency. In the audio industry, the product range of the brand has expanded to include an extensive catalog of Headphones, Earphones, Bluetooth earphones, Fashion earphones, Truly wireless earphones, Audio wearables, Hearables, Air pods for android, Wireless earbuds, Wireless headphones, and Earbuds. All the products have been designed to fulfill athleisure tastes which appeal to both fitness and fashion-conscious youth.

Within just one year from its inception, the company sold 28,000 units, thus taking the sales turnover to 40 lacs for FY 2019 and 14crores for FY 2020. HAMMER also became India’s first audio brand to launch Bluetooth 5.0 enabled TWS in India. This technology comes with removed lag sounds, improved battery efficiency, and enhanced audio, video, and gaming experiences. The venture has grown into 20 full-time employees and had also contracted 4-5 external agencies for technical and marketing support.

In a recent interaction with Mr. Rohit Nandwani, we got to know more about the company and their future road map, here are some of the glimpse:

Rohit Nandwani is the chief operating officer of Hammer Audio. He founded the company in January 2019 and since then has been involved in its day to day operations. In 2015, he graduated from Christ University with a Bachelor in Business Administration (BBA). He had chosen to specialize in finance. After graduating, Rohit joined a Series-A startup called UrbanPro. There he worked closely with the company’s senior management. He was involved intimately with making strategic decisions which taught him how to scale a business from scratch.

After working for a year with UrbanPro, Rohit decided to found his startup called Ringtel Marketing. Ringtel Marketing sold accessories manufactured by A-list electronics brands like Samsung, Sony, Bose, Beats, Fit-bit, and Apple. At the helm of Ringtel, Rohit gained a thorough understanding of the accessories market. His keen knowledge led him to expand his operations and found India’s first athleisure audio-wearable brand called Hammer.

When Rohit is not in the office, he spends in his time reading. He also enjoys playing tennis and keeps himself fit through regular exercise. His fondness for keeping his body in good shape is one of the key reasons he founded Hammer Audio. Rohit believes in giving back to society. At Teach for India, he teaches underprivileged children who are in the 6th grade. In addition to teaching students their regular course, during the weekends, he also helps them develop their personality.

 

 

1. The audio market is already a competitive one, so what inspired you to be in this business?

The Audio Interface market is expected to grow from USD 149.02 Million in 2018 to USD 240.2 Million by 2026, at a CAGR of 5.9%. This forecast period, made me realize that this sector has a lot in potential. I wanted to come up with the latest and affordable technology for Indian consumers. The Indian market is very vast and there was not much competition among the Indian Audio brands for the industry present in the market, so that made me feel to start with the first Indian athleisure audio tech brand- HAMMER.

2. Just in 1 year, Hammer got 14 crores of turn over, so what is the mantra behind your success?

We are living in a world of Cut-throat Competition and everybody is striving hard to outshine others to get success in the respective field. The first and foremost thing to do in the direction of success is to have an aim. So, from day 1 onwards itself, our aim is to give what customers are looking for. Thus, being India’s first athleisure audio tech brand, we provide a stylish and extraordinary range in audio and fitness devices for a healthy lifestyle and comfort.

3. Being relatively a new brand, how the company has handled the rattle of COVID-19 and lockdown period?

So the pandemic had a great setback at the time of April because of complete lockdown as all the industries have faced a slump in their business because of COVID-19. But after a certain period of lockdown, people became more cautious towards their lifestyle. People have started using fitness bands at an increasing rate. Plus, the audio sector has taken a hike in the market after the Unlock. People are showing more interest in truly wireless earbuds for their personal or professional use.

4. Is anything has changed now in comparison to the last year,  I mean the strategies and way of approaching customers?

Yes, definitely we have made a few amendments in our strategies since they were needed to be changed because of the pandemic. It was quite difficult to approach people at the time of lockdown which made us realize that we need to come up with new plans and strategies to overcome this situation. But after the flow of goods started in the market again, we are in a better position now. If we compare, Hammer has seen a growth from its last year.

5. What is your future road map to attain growth and more market share?

We are planning to increase our market share by the end of this year by providing more range of Truly Wireless Earbuds to customers. We are coming up with new innovative products to give a wide range of options to our customers to choose from. Along with that, they are equipped with the latest versions of the technology which makes them stand out from our competitive brands.

6. Any plan to go offline? Please put some light on the current Audio market trends and its growth in the upcoming years.

Yes, we are planning to go offline soon. Currently, Hammer controls 1.7% of the share in the audio market. As we are planning to come up with more varieties of products we expect to double our current market share by end of this year. The foremost trends are that the demand for headphones has grown but due to so many suppliers in the market, it has led to the fall in price overall. Second, the users are giving more emphasis on the sound quality to choose their audio devices.

7. Does Hammer have any plans to extend its product range? 

Yes, we are planning to launch a new product range. We are coming up with a new Smartwatch and long true wireless earbuds. The Smart Watches would have some unique USPs which our competitive brands have not yet come up with. We would be launching them in October 2020 around the festive season to create more buzz.

8. How AI is redefining the shape of the Audio market and what Hammer is doing to embrace it?

When it comes to the audio market, it clearly appears that AI is capable of saving massive amounts of human resources, thereby reducing the budgets required. As is the case in every industry, resistance to new technology exists whether it’s valid or not, and over the period of time, I expect to see an increasing number of tasks being either entirely conducted or at least assisted by AI-driven tools. AI is allowing us to complete tasks faster and more accurately than before, we can focus on more meaningful work.