- Wear-Tech is the next big bet in the fashion accessory space, and Nu Republic is here to create a revolution.
- Nu Republic’s vision is to be the brand of choice in lifestyle electronics for the new gen.
Nu Republic is making new waves in the Indian lifestyle technology space. Founded in 2018 by serial entrepreneur Ujjwal Sarin, the company specialises in products in the Fast Moving Consumer Electronics space.
The future of fashion is technology. We are glued to our gadgets for work or play, and lifestyle electronics now define more than just utility for consumers.
The next big bet in the fashion accessories and lifestyle electronics space is their juxtaposition – the wearable technology space or WearTech. They become gadgets that define personality with their design, technology and the emotion that goes in their craft.
So whether you are on-the-move to having an engaging sit-in session without distractions, products like smartwatches and earbuds accentuate our emotions.
Nu Republic understands this next generation of geeks who want their wear-tech to reverb their voice. The brand is home-grown, and caters to users in the fast-moving lifestyle and consumer technology space.
Founded by serial entrepreneur Ujjwal Sarin in 2018, the company channelises his rich experience and vision from stints with some of the biggest names in the consumer technology space like Tata Teleservices and ZTE. Sarin has multi-functional experience of over 15 years in Management, Marketing, B2B, D2C and International Sales.
“At Nu Republic, we juxtapose everyday electronics at the crossroads of music, tech and fashion and are fast emerging as a go-to brand for not just the audience of today, but the users of tomorrow”, Sarin shares.
The company first made headlines with its foray into audio products. Their flagship product, the Starboy Wireless Headphone has been a runaway success, making its place as the #1 headphone on Amazon within the very first month of its launch.
Within the span of a year, the brand launched many other products and scaled up its annual revenue to INR 30 crores.
“So many of our offerings have created a niche for themselves as superhits in the D2C space. The Citizens of Nu Republic, a name we give to our beloved users, have given us stellar feedback. All we want is to find new ways to stun our users everyday with new-age tech and world-class design.” Sarin tells us.
Starboy and Starboy 3 received a lot of consumer affection, over a million products sold till date. The Flash X5 Wireless Neckbands and Starbuds 4 Earbuds claim massy and classy appeal, and have proven success with customers – with combined sales of 1.5 million+ so far.
The brand has also partnered with leading brands like Nikon, HDFC, Accenture and others for their corporate rewards requirements.
Nu Republic took the offline route two years after its launch, and expanded multi-fold in the mobile accessories segment – growing its product line strength by launching smartwatches and power accessories.
Promoted by NuWorld Retail Private Limited, the brand has now expanded its product portfolio to more than 100 SKUs, offering smartwatches, Wireless Earbuds, neckbands, headphones, backpacks and power accessories.
Developing DesignTech – What’s The #NuEmotion?
Nu Republic aims to be a brand of choice for consumers across borders.
The method is to develop products that are eventually the best option at the point of sale. Keystones of Technology, Design and Emotion aid their aspiration to bring in the beat and push off constraints.
“We combine design with quality to define optimum utility. Our soul lies in raising the bar higher, even in a fast-paced consumer tech space developing around us”, says Sarin.
Focusing on building a robust multi-channel distribution network spanning retail trade, modern trade and e-commerce, Nu Republic aspires to not just match, but also define benchmarks internationally, not just nationally – by blending in emotion with technology in each of its products.
“Our consumers may be browsing online for their product, or chasing a touch-and-feel way of purchasing. We want to make sure we cater to all of them.”, Sarin adds.
Leaders Behind the Brand
Prior to founding Nu Republic, Ujjwal has been a key business leader for ZTE and MTS (Sistema) in India. He has been the force behind the growth of Nu Republic in the last four years.
Jitendra Kumar has recently joined Nu Republic as their Chief Operating Officer (COO) to manage the brand’s overall sales, distribution, product planning, channel expansion and corporate sales. He is an experienced sales professional with more than 23 years of experience in companies such as Zebronics, Ubon, Exmart Mobile, Reliance Communications and Bharti Airtel. His experience ranges across several industries such as mobile accessories, mobile handsets, DTH, mobile services and power products.
The Road Ahead
The brand is growing leaps and bounds, with fast-paced development keeping in mind market trends and the evolving consumer demand.
Nu Republic set up its design and development office in Hong Kong, and exports to South Asia, South America and Africa as well.
Infrastructure Development Projects
At present a large majority of Nu Republic’s portfolio is manufactured in India through partnerships with various OEM’s. “We aim to shift 100% of product development operations to India by next year, and eventually be a 100% Made-In-India brand that competes with the best of the world in the wearables tech and electronics accessory industry.”
They are investing in a tangible supply chain through a new warehouse facility in Delhi and expanding operations to three more locations in the Western and Southern part of India.
Leadership Development.
“A major part of building a company is also building culture and talent that proves to be knights for the economy. We’ve done this by integrating key talent and leadership by calling in industry experts who will hone talent from the best colleges and universities spanning across India”, shares Sarin.
Apart from onboarding Jitendra Saini as COO, the brand has also made some high profile leadership appointments across all product functions.
Sachin Varshney, their CTO brings over fifteen years of seasoned operational prowess in product development for some of the well-known companies in the industry like Panasonic, TCL and Micromax.
Trusting in the power of dynamic execution and young energy, Nu Republic recently welcomed Gauri Joshi for heading marketing and communications. She brings experience in Journalism and Corporate Communications – having worked with Sirona Hygiene, a D2C FemTech brand and Adfactors PR, India’s largest PR agency. She is an alumna of IIMC New Delhi, known to be the hub of communications talent in India.
Swimming against the recessionary trends & so-called startup winter, the brand plans to hire more than 100 people in various functions in 2023 – roping in seasoned professionals and energetic talent to get things rolling at the pace of current.
Amplifying the Brand Story
“In a prosumer space that reacts more than it consumes, we rely on the citizens of Nu Republic to talk about what they like, and what they want us to work on as a D2C brand”, shares Ujjwal.
Which is why, brand development channels for Nu Republic revolve around new-age media engagement for the consumers and customers of today. They have vibrant storytelling over Instagram with meaningful collaborations over YouTube as well.
But trust comes from tapping into all channels of marketing and branding, which is why the company is keen on onboarding a brand ambassador who takes their appeal and accountability for providing wow-some product and style, to consumers in India and abroad.
“We believe in traditional marketing and word-of-mouth, but are learning new ways to tell our story everyday”, Ujjwal adds.
Interestingly, Ujjwal has headed marketing and e-commerce himself in the past which is why he’s a seasoned storyteller, as well as a hands-on team builder and leader.
Mission 2023
Sensing the consumers’ pulse and designing innovative products to meet their demands, Nu Republic is now poised for major growth advancements in 2023 and beyond.
The brand aims to build its foundation, consumer appeal and brand resonance.
The company has also revamped its entire product portfolio to meet the dynamic demands of new-age consumers. Therefore, the brand will be launching a slew of products and continue to expand its portfolio to meet the needs of its fans, the citizens of Nu Republic. “The aim is to be a go to brand for the next gen. We are not here to test waters, but create resonating waves” Ujjwal signs off.
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