iRobot, the leading global consumer robot company, designs and builds robots that empower people to do more both inside and outside their home. Established in 2014, Puresight Systems has the exclusive partnership with America based company, iRobot to distribute iRobot home robots in India. Based in Bangalore, Puresight has opened a service centre and two stores in Bangalore. We spoke to Pulak Satish Kumar, Head of Business Development, Puresight Systems India about his plans for the brand and his views on franchising as a business model. He also spoke on the challenges of this industry.
What are your views on franchising as a model? Are you also open to partners via franchise route?
The business model of franchising has been called one of the greatest ever developed. Its popularity has to do with its proven track record of success, and the relative ease with which people can become franchise business owners. Puresight evaluates each business model for itself, any sub distributor/ franchisee will be required to open a flagship store and a service centre for his area.
Tell us about your business model? How do you operate in India?
Puresight Systems Pvt Ltd is the Exclusive Distributor of iRobot products in India. We operate as a wholesale company and work with Resellers and Sub-Distributors. We do business on three platforms namely:
1.Offline – Through franchise flagship stores with service centres
2.E-commerce – Through Amazon and Flipkart
3.Online – Through our website
The idea is to gradually but consistently build our presence across the country through different avenues. Our commitment to India is a long term one and we see great potential in bringing in delightful products for the Indian consumer.
What challenges you see or face in your sector? How do you plan to overcome them in the distribution system?
It is a well-known fact by now that India is an evolving market for products such as ours and the biggest challenge is to reach the end customer and facilitate their interaction with the products; get them to touch and feel the product, make them aware about the product to demonstrate how they enhance convenience and save time. We think we can overcome this with the expansion of flagship stores geographically across India.
Tell us about your expansion plans in India? Do you also look forward to open stores and retail products like Braava?
Puresight’s strategy for expansion is to open flagship stores to enable product experience for customers and service centres to increase customer confidence. In the first stage, we are targeting major metros and tier one cities, where at least one flagship store is backed up with a service centre. Also, various retail outlets and SIS can be explored as we move on.
Which is a better route according to you for business expansion? Online or offline?
Each have their advantages and we look at them as mediums to reach our customers. As we’ve seen lately, a lot of pure e-commerce businesses have found it beneficial to open brick and mortar stores. The idea is to create avenues through which customers find easy access, both from a purchase perspective and of course in terms of after sales delivery. At the moment, we find it comfortable to be in both spaces, online and offline.
What are the requisites to become your partner?
Retail experience and of course the buy in and ability to open a flagship store and a service centre. The location of the flagship store should be in a high visibility place and walk-ins are backed-up by parking space. In terms of dimensions, depending upon the location, the floor size can be discussed and explored. It is also important to analyse the potential of the market and different feasibilities.
