The impact of the pandemic on the sanitary-ware industry in India has been largely disruptive. While the industry remained muted on the account of subdued real estate performance, lukewarm consumer demand, disruptions in supply chain and business operations, the outlook is modest for the next two to three years, suggest experts. Renovations will drive demand in the replacement market across both individual household and commercial applications, helping the Indian sanitary-ware market reach USD 1074.71 million by 2027, at a CAGR of 7.38 % over the forecast period 2021 – 2027. 

Furthermore, the increasing health and safety concerns have given a boost to touchless technology. A survey suggests that people touch their faces more than 20 times an hour on average. "Thus, consumers are opting for contactless faucets or sensor-operated products which are seeing high demand. And, there is a shift in the purchasing behaviour as well, they prefer to do their primary search online on brands/products & more or less decide on the product before walking into a store. Hence, to cater to this new phygital way of purchase, brands have to be adequately present in the digital arena," highlights Sudhanshu Pokhriyal, Chief Executive Officer, Bath Business, Brilloca in an exclusive interview.

Excerpts:

Q1. How did Brilloca revive demand for its bathware business post lockdown?

Bathware industry has bounced back after the lockdown. There has been a gradual rise and the last few months have been good. Our sanitaryware and faucets business has already recovered to pre-Covid levels, which is in line with the revival trajectory of the industry. We expect to make a full recovery to the pre-COVID level only by FY22.

We keep innovating to launch technologically advanced and efficient products that help us drive competitive advantage and lead the charge of the market. We have been deploying innovative water-saving technology for decades now, setting high benchmarks for resource and energy conservation from the beginning. We recently launched environment-friendly senor operated, touch-free water closets, Tozzo and Flora. These EWC are developed keeping in mind that consumers are concerned to touch minimum surfaces.

Q2. It is seen that consumer loyalty had dwindled during this crisis. How can marketers regain their lost trust and loyalty post-pandemic?

At Brilloca, we believe in offering the best products that are driven by innovation and exceptional design. The category is expected to see a massive jump in the near future as hygiene conscious consumers will look to replace their normal toilet seat with a touchless one. The future of the segment is bullish, and we are expanding our portfolio of intelligent toilets and senor enabled EWC to keep addressing the needs and concerns of our customers. Moreover, during the pandemic in order to assist consumers and ensure that they are able to make the right choices when it comes to buying products for their bathroom we provided virtual tours of the Hindware experience centres which was very much liked by the consumers. 

Q3. How are you leveraging technology to build exemplar products and further offer an enhanced consumer experience?

Smart as a concept has had great traction in India especially posts the unprecedented pandemic. The success story of luxury bathrooms saw a push in the categories which focused on hygiene, wellness, and technology. Luxury combined with a heightened sense of hygiene and safety has opened new opportunities for us. Brilloca is known for combining technology and aesthetics to deliver you the highest quality sanitary ware line to make your bathroom both useful and appealing. Touchless sanitary ware by Hindware allows for hands-free access and features an easy-to-use mechanism that ensures touch-free flushing. 

Q4. Sanitary ware is a competitive market. How do you look at the competition and what makes you stand out from the crowd?

Through extensive research undertaken over the years, we discovered that brands in the market are focusing majorly on the aesthetics of the product rather than the functioning of the product as end consumer wants both aspects to be taken care of. So the iconic brand Hindware launched its campaign “Thoughtful is Beautiful” to benefit the consumers who are looking for more innovative products along with a better aesthetic appeal. 

It has always been our endeavour to give products and solutions that ease the consumer’s life, “thoughtful is beautiful” campaign echoes the same sentiment where we intend to provide functionally led high-performance thoughtful products to our consumers. This belief doesn’t restrict itself to products and solutions, we intend to imbibe this thought in our manufacturing practices, our trade partnerships our extended influencer segments. To develop an ecosystem that is driven by thoughtful practices and hence is sustainable.

Q5. How is Brilloca looking at its marketing initiatives in the coming year? 

As a company, we are centered around innovation and strive to create unique product offerings that can add value to our consumer’s lives. During the pandemic, there has been a shift in consumer preferences and hygiene and safety have become the leading points of consideration. Consumers are now more interested in buying smart solutions when it comes to bath-ware and faucets as there is a greater focus on health and hygiene. Besides this, as consumers become more environment-conscious, there is also an inclination to opt for products that are more sustainable and conserve water.

For Hindware Italian Collection, we launched the second leg of our campaign - ‘Thoughtful is Beautiful.’ The campaign features Hindware’s newly launched touch-free products including sensor-based faucets and water closets that have been designed to enable better safety and hygiene in households across India amidst the ongoing pandemic. The campaign features a series of multilingual films across languages such as Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali to reach consumers in the country. To further boost the campaign’s reach and build excitement, the brand will also be promoting it across media platforms including TV, digital, online, social media channels.