As a hotbed of innovation, numerous technologies have made their way into the everyday lives of the common man. For a country like India there is an imminent need to increase access to technology for brands looking to tap into newer markets.
India’s e-commerce sector is expected to reach US$ 111.40 billion by 2025 from US$ 46.20 billion in 2020, growing at a 19.24% CAGR, with the home appliances sector, grocery & fashion likely to be the key drivers of this incremental growth.
Today, the market dynamics have completely changed as Indian customers want convenience, timeliness, & ease as key factors in their purchase. Rapid digitization and reverse urbanization have also led to a willingness to experiment and indulge in exploring new technologies to upgrade lifestyle.
A key trend in the adoption of new technology can be seen in the profusion of IoT enabled devices. As per a report by Frost and Sullivan, the Indian IoT market is expected to reach US$9.28 billion by 2025 from US$4.98 billion in 2020, driven mostly by changes in consumer behavior. IoT-enabled home appliances including air conditioners, refrigerators, chimneys, water heaters & purifiers have emerged as some of the key growth drivers. Factors including increased internet penetration, usage of smartphones and better accessibility to new technologies have contributed significantly to the rise in the adoption of IoT-enabled home appliances.
The Indian consumer is embracing the concept of connected living, to make their lives easy, comfortable, and secure. With IoT, the idea is to create an ecosystem where these appliances operate, adjust, & perform automatically taking into consideration the user behavior, usage history, trends, climatic conditions, and more. The products are being designed in a way that the device makes optimum use of this data to learn deeply about user behavior and start taking smart and automated decisions on its own.
Chairman and Managing Director
Hindware Home Innovation Limited
IoT has given us a way to think beyond screen interfaces, by leveraging the capabilities of sound, gestures, and intuitive movements, thereby transforming complex interfaces into simple experiences for users. These connected appliances also help in instantly troubleshooting problems with the product. From alerting the service center about the failure in the appliance to registering a complaint, the users can do anything a customer want from the app.
Some key aspects that are expected to influence demand in near future include tech-enabled faster supply chain mechanisms, increased local customer support, and continued growth in the usage of smartphones and digital payments. The industry is anticipated to evolve further, and technology will act as the key catalyst in this transformation.
To ensure the full-fledged increase of technology and its associated products, firstly, technology will need to be made accessible. This will need to be done to ensure that geographical boundaries (while catered for) do not pose as a hindrance to someone looking to leverage a new technology. This may also mean that innovators and OEM’s may have to collaborate to promote cross-platform functionality.
Secondly, technology will need to be made easy to use. Furthermore, this will ensure a larger age-group penetration for technologies, thereby widening the prospective audience pool.
Last, but not the least, technology will need to be made affordable. India still has a large and dynamic economic divide. To ensure that people are not left behind, it is critical to make sure that technology is within everyone’s reach financially. Indigenizing as much of the production chain as possible may reduce end-costs by cutting out import taxes and other associated tariffs. As such, technology that is cheaper will see a better adoption sentiment by a larger group of target audiences.
