Interview, Kishan Jain & Bishan Jain Directors, Goldmedal Electrical Pvt. Ltd.

Delighted to share the interview of our Directors, Kishan and Bishan Jain, that was featured in today’s edition of The Economic Times.

The interview captures our relentless quest to create usable, innovative solutions using cutting-edge technology. The directors talk about the exciting new products – that offer the best of design, features, and affordability – that we will soon bring to the market. Do share your thoughts on the interview in the comments below!

And as always, thank you for your good wishes and love. It keeps us going!

1. How do you look at the year 2017 from Goldmedal’s perspective?

KJ: Without doubt, 2017 has been one of the most satisfying years for us. We anticipated that it will be a year where we will evolve as a brand and as a company, but we are pleased by how almost everything turned out better than we expected. We were able to launch two new product ranges – the GIFA and AIR modular range. Both received a great response from the industry as well as the end customers. We opened quite a few Goldmedal Exclusive Showrooms across the country. That was one of our targets for the year and we met that comfortably. We are also using technology to manage our operations, sales and marketing efforts. This has seen a lot of traction and in 2018 we hope to be entirely online in most of these areas. So from a brand and company perspective, we are quite happy with how 2017 turned out for us.

2. What are your targets for the new year?

BJ: We are glad to say that the Goldmedal brand is well recognized in the industry. We are known in the industry for the quality products we make and the innovations we introduce in the market. From architects to builders to dealers to electricians, we are glad to say that the Goldmedal brand enjoys high recall in the industry. The challenge we have is to establish the Goldmedal brand a bit more in the minds of the end consumer. People are conscious of the brands they buy and this is also true for the electrical industry. With the kind of products that we have, we are sure that consumers would be excited to know more about us. We are quite active on social media – but we realize the need to be on traditional media too to reach out to our customers. Overall, our focus will be to continue innovating and to communicate that to our end users. We are excited by the opportunity and the challenges on this.

3. Goldmedal has a varied portfolio of products. How do you see it growing in the next few years?

KJ: Goldmedal has one of the most varied product portfolios in the industry. We’ve done this consciously so that so that Goldmedal can be seen as the go-to brand for anything electrical. But we have also taken care that we do not create quantity for the sake of it. We are very particular about the quality of products we make and we do not create a category of products unless we are sure we have something new to offer. For example, we did not have a range of standard modular switches until we launched the AIR range. The AIR range offers something that no other switch range in the category offers – which is – international quality styling and finish at a most affordable price. Apart from Modular Switches and Systems and Home Automation Systems, our portfolio also includes Wires and Cables, MCBs, DBs, LEDs, Doorbells, PVC Pipes, Accessories, Night lamps, etc. Our focus is to keep adding depth as well as breadth to this portfolio. Which means, more design and price options in all existing product range and introducing more products in the near future.

4. What are the important areas you focus on when developing a new product range?

We always looked at ease of use and styling as the two key areas to create innovation. So in case of Home Automation, we realized that it can be not only an expensive and time-consuming process, but there’s also maintenance and training that is involved. Goldmedal’s Home Automation system does away with all these pain points. Users can thus replace their existing switches with Goldmedal’s Home Automation switches within a couple of hours. Any qualified electrician can carry out the installation. There’s no major rewiring required. These switches can be operated by both Remote as well as mobile app. The remote control switches are operated by RF-based remote control instead of IR. This makes the remote work across walls and barriers. Plus, people needn’t point the remote at the device to operate. These are all innovations that are done keeping Indian conditions in mind.

In terms of aesthetics, we realize that as a nation we love color. We also like to experiment with shapes and textures. Goldmedal thus offers a huge variety of options in terms of look and feel in all our products. Even accessories like doorbells, spike guards, night lamps are available in exciting variants to suit every taste.

In the future too, we plan to continue along the same lines. We’ll keep studying how people interact with their electrical devices and innovate to make it easier for people to operate the devices. Plus, we’ll offer the products in attractive design options to make buying electrical goods exciting for the end consumer.

5. Everything around is changing quickly. How do you see the switch industry changing in the future?

Technology will no doubt be the defining factor. We can already see how people’s lives are being affected in a positive manner by the use of mobile apps, sustainable, energy-saving ideas and so on. And technology is not impacting just one industry – it’s everywhere. From cars to television to the way we travel, bank, holiday, entertain, etc. And people are lapping up them. The Indian consumer is also getting tech-savvy at a rapid pace and this change is affecting their entire outlook to life.

We believe that people are accepting these features not for the novelty factor, but because it is genuinely helping them do more in life. So whether it is GPS screens in cars, steering wheels with controls or Smart TVs – technology-driven features are becoming a regular part of our daily lives. So why should electrical switches and systems be behind?

At Goldmedal, we are keenly trying to understand the emerging scenario and trying to introduce products that will use technology to enhance the lives of the customer. Along with technology, energy saving products and processes and materials that are environment-friendly are areas of focus for us in the future. There’s a lot that’s going to happen in the switch industry and Goldmedal will be at the forefront in introducing many of these changes.

6. What are the challenges you foresee in the near future?

As always, the challenge is more within than outside. We need to be able to stick to our plans going ahead. There’s a lot of short-term and long-term strategies involved and our team is geared up to make them happen. We realize there will be ups and downs as we move into uncharted territory – that’s a given – but we’ll need to be steady in our resolve to make sure we reach our destination. In many ways, the company is moving up a few gears and the senior management will have to take the responsibility to steer the company in the right manner. We are looking at these challenges as a normal part of the growth cycle of a company and we are positive that we’ll only gain from the experiences out of it. We are confident that the end result will be good for the company as well as for the industry.



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