“We prioritise understanding the pain points and needs of our customers, allowing us to cater to specific segments effectively,” said Jeffrey Liang, president of BenQ Asia. “Our strategy is to be the leader in various growing and premium segments, such as gaming monitors and programming monitors. We strive to differentiate ourselves by providing value in those segments, ensuring that our customers receive the specific benefits they desire. Our global strategy focuses on becoming the category leader in selected segments, not just the overall market,” Liang explained to indianexpress.com during a recent interaction.
“Our strategy alignment, in the last seven years, is the primary factor behind our current success,” added Rajeev Singh, MD of BenQ India. The Taiwanese technology brand claims that BenQ India contributes nearly 7.5 per cent of its global revenue. Buoyed by the success of the brand in India, the brand aims to be one of the most accessible consumer technology brands in India.
“We decided to focus on the mid and high-end segments, discontinuing entry-level products. We identified growth areas like programming monitors and tailored products for them. For instance, we developed monitors with Indian programmers in mind, a niche market that proved to be substantial,” said Rajeev.
BenQ as a brand, Singh added, offers its monitor portfolio to a variety of segments including gaming, graphic designers, and professional photographers. The MD said that the brand undertook this strategy a decade ago, and this has led to BenQ becoming a leader in the current market shift. “In projectors, we foresaw the growth in the home segment and created a dedicated team. Today, home projection is the fastest-growing part of the market.”
When it comes to the B2B domain, BenQ has been seeing an upward trend in the education and corporate segments. According to Singh, the market is currently transitioning from projectors to interactive displays. Although interactive flat panels have been the prime focus of the brand for the past five years, it picked up pace only last year.
In the last few years, especially following the pandemic, there has been a considerable increase in the number of consumers opting for projectors, as a viable option for home entertainment. When asked if projectors could soon replace conventional television, Liang and Singh unanimously highlighted the fact that projector technology has been briskly advancing and may soon find wider acceptance.
“The TV market is huge in India, while the projector market is much smaller. From the perspective of technology, it has become possible for projectors to find their way into a lot of homes. TVs are mostly used in the living room, however, now projectors have advanced, one does not need to dim lights to watch them, almost blurring the distinction between TVs and projectors. Now it is possible to use a laser projector in place of a large screen TV. However, this is still a premium product,” said Singh adding that projectors owing to their portability are finding resonance with young consumers.
The display technology segment is burgeoning with companies of all sizes and segments making it far more competitive than it was a decade ago. When asked about BenQ’s philosophy and its approach to competition, Liang was quick to point out that the brand firmly believes in making and keeping its promises to its consumers.
The brand has evolved from programming monitors to displays suitable for immersive simulators over the years. When asked about what future innovations can consumers expect from the brand, Liang asserted that innovation is the core focus for BenQ. He said the company not only innovates on products but also in applications. “We have introduced Google-certified interactive flat panels for education, opening up new possibilities. We are also launching gaming projectors to cater to the growing gaming market, providing low input lag and high refresh rates. Our aim is to continuously innovate to meet evolving customer needs,” he said.
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BenQ has been witnessing consistent growth in the Indian market, and globally the company aims to achieve a $100 million milestone by 2025. According to Singh, the company has been growing at a rate of nearly 50 per cent year on year and expects to maintain growth at 25-30 per cent annually for the next three years to reach the milestone.
“India’s smart classroom market is significant, and we’ve already made strides in it. We have a ‘Make in India’ initiative for interactive flat panels and are continuously investing in strategic areas to fuel growth,” said Singh. When asked if the brand witnessed any specific trends following the pandemic, Singh said the most noticeable change was that content consumption became more personalised and OTT platforms made quality content accessible to all.
While most of the offerings of BenQ are in the premium segment, the brand has been taking steps towards making them accessible to more consumers with interest-free EMI schemes, credit card offers, free installation, etc. The brand will soon be offering gaming projectors in India. “Our gaming projectors are a game-changer, offering a premium gaming experience with features like low input lag and high refresh rates. We aim to provide a range of options to cater to different budgets, making gaming projectors accessible to a wider audience in India.