‘Innovation is about making smaller changes to enrich customer experience’: Varun Gupta on Boult’s entry into dashcam segment

Founded in 2017 by brothers Varun and Tarun Gupta, Boult Audio has grown rapidly over the past seven years. It started with neckband earphones and wireless audio and gradually expanded into smartwatches. 

Varun said after tasting success in these categories, Boult now has its eyes set on dashcams. “We do see audio and smartwatches sort of plateauing. Smartwatches have started seeing negative growth. Audio is at a growth of 10-20 per cent, while we as a brand still grow by 50 per cent,” he told indianexpress.com. 

Varun said the entry of the company, which now sells a product every four seconds and has reached over 20 million households in India, into the new product categories in the Internet of Things (IoT) space is an effort to maintain Boult’s growth momentum.

According to him, dashcams have emerged as a promising opportunity for the company. The co-founder believes that India will see tremendous growth in dashcam adoption once insurance companies begin to partner with brands or make dashcams compulsory for certain types of cars or insurance policies. 

Boult aims to be an early mover and establish itself as a leader in the dashcam category before it takes off. “We want to be sure that by the time the category grows, we are the undisputed leaders in this category rather than being a second turn in this category,” said Gupta.

When asked what sets Boult apart from its competitors, Varun said that its strength lies in their in-house product design and technology capabilities. “We have an in-house design team which designs our products. We also have an in-house 3D printer,” said Varun who also heads the product design department at Boult. He believes that this aspect allows Boult to differentiate its products in terms of design and user experience. 

Dashcams for varied uses

During the conversation, Varun emphasised their dashcams are built focussing on security, transparency, and accountability. He said dashcams can help users get through insurance claims, prevent being hassled by police, and protect one from road rage, etc. When it comes to India, the company is foreseeing potential use cases for fleet operators as well as parents who wish to monitor their children while they are driving. 

Regarding challenges in India, Varun said the main obstacle is a lack of awareness as most people do not even know what a dashcam is. “Even if we updated it, which is a dashcam converted into a dash camera, they could not even understand that there can be a camera which is on a dashboard,” he said. 

When asked what the company plans to do about spreading awareness of the device, Varun said they would focus on education rather than mere brand promotions. 

He said the primary target audience for the new product is the first 80 million Indians with Rs 7 to 8 lakh annual income, also known as the Indian One segment. “We’re starting here because we understand that for a new category, the early adopters are India One, of course, for a new very innovative category,” he said while talking about the target audience for Boult dashcams.

What makes Boult different?

When it comes to features, Boult’s new line dashcams include G-sensors to detect sudden changes in speed, feature HD video recording, and emergency recording, and the high-end model also features GPS. Moreover, the company claims they are ideal for vlogging to their 360-degree rotation.

Adding on to what sets Boult apart from its peers, Varun outlined three key areas — product design, hardware, and software. He said innovation is about making small changes that enhance customer experience which is a permutation of the three key areas. Varun said on the design front, Boult invests in coming up with appealing products that stand out in online marketplaces. “The software layer then ties it all together to create a differentiated user experience.”

Varun asserted that their unique approach without overtly relying on massive marketing spending allows them to effectively compete with bigger brands. “We don’t have any budgets to splurge on marketing. So our product design stands out in the market,” he said, adding that the company’s products have been consistently achieving higher ratings on e-commerce sites, compared to peers.