PEAKLIFE gets in conversation with Vikas Gandhi, President and Business Head of Lighting (Tisva), Premium Fans, and Water Solutions Business at Usha International.
From the house of Usha International arrived Tisva, a premium decorative and architectural lighting brand. True to its name, Tisva goes beyond ordinary lighting concepts and brings aesthetic luminaires designed with love, to illuminate contemporary homes. Spearheaded by President and Business Head, Vikas Gandhi, the brand is an industry leader “right from architectural lighting, general lighting, to decorative lighting”.
In conversation with PEAKLIFE, the entrepreneur shares the brand’s inception, its remarkable growth curve and what’s up and coming:
Q1. Tell us a little about Tisva and how Tisva expanded its presence in the country?
Tisva, inspired by the concept of Tvisa (light) and Tattva (essence), was launched in April 2014. Tisva started as a premium home decorative lighting brand, but over a period of time, evolved into a complete lighting solution brand. Today Tisva is a one-stop shop for all things lighting – from basic to high-end, from minimalistic to opulent, as well as luxury lighting solutions. Currently we have the maximum number of products in our pipeline in the entire industry, right from architectural lighting, general lighting, to decorative lighting.
At present, we have 14 stores with experiential zones that give the consumer the entire experience. We are spread across the length and breadth of the country. We also have some shop-in-shops, which are present in the majority of tier two cities as well as a strong channel partner network. In the north we have stores in Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Dehradun and Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Baroda in the west, Bangalore and Hyderabad in the south and soon we will be tapping the east with a store in Kolkata. We have a strong presence across the key markets of India, and we aim to keep on expanding wherever we see the potential.
Q2. Please share with us some Insights into the company’s growth and what is the differentiating factor when it comes to competitive brands?
Since the time of inception of Tisva, we have grown exponentially every year. The average growth rate has been steady and encouraging. Tisva as a brand has grown multifold, having serviced more than 10,000 households across India, and also witnessed a 10X increase in our ticket size in the past five years. We expanded our footprints to 14 cities and will soon add Kolkata as the 15th. Customers adore our brand because of the products we offer, the quality we provide, the technology we employ, and the pre- and post- sales services we provide. We make the entire customer journey seamless and stress-free – our customers just need to submit a 2D sketch of their homes to us during pre-sales, and our lighting experts will assist them design the complete application and ambience of lighting in their homes. This takes into account what the customers want and enables them in selecting the best product in terms of both quantity and quality. Additionally, we offer free installation for our products after the sale and a warranty that, depending on the product, can last between two and ten years.
In addition, we also stock up on spare parts which are a critical customer necessity. Therefore, our customers don’t have to worry about that because we keep the space. The quality of our product is a defining characteristic of our brand, and the business generated by word-of-mouth bears testimony to that. Because of the quality we provide, we win customer loyalty and inspire trust, making them our biggest supporters. We are completely honest with the consumer and help address all customer requirements in a documented manner.
Q3. How has Tisva evolved its marketing strategies? How do you connect with your consumer?
Our marketing strategy has been two-pronged – while customer advocacy is our primary marketing strategy, we also collaborate with a lot of interior designers and architects who, as a result of their positive experiences, have turned into our brand’s ambassadors. User and consumer advocacy is, in my opinion, our primary marketing strategy. We engage with our customers online as well and do a lot in the digital space. Gauri Khan has been our company’s brand ambassador since 2016 and this has significantly helped increase brand awareness.
Q4. How is Tisva integrating technology with design to stay ahead of the curve in this competitive market?
Building on the philosophy of ‘beauty behind every piece’, our focus is on combining cutting-edge technology with impeccable designs. We pride ourselves in bringing numerous world-class, industry-first lighting technologies to India, some of which include liquid lighting with micro-fluid technology, human-centric lighting, as well as ultra-low glare ratio technology. The products that we launch are industry leaders in terms of aesthetics, design, and technology. The latest products which we have launched have the cutting-edge Mitsubishi Acrylic offering micro fluid technology which are aesthetically very pleasing, with some also offering dimmability.
Q5. – What are some of the consumer trends being witnessed in the industry?
It’s important to think about how we are catering to the different consumer segments while analyzing consumer trends. We cater to both the premium and luxury markets. Trends we have observed is that customers in the luxury segment are increasingly preferring ornate lights made in Europe i.e. the exquisite and meticulously hand-crafted luminaires in Murano glass, where the brand language is less traditional and more modern, falling somewhere between completely minimalist modernism of Scandinavian design and conventional design.
Modern designs have gained ground in the premium segment vis-à-vis traditional or completely minimalist designs in the Indian market. However, while contemporary designs have been more popular, there is a growing shift towards minimalism. Today’s customers want to know about the newest products and the technology in play. We also realize people love the simplicity of the technology we offer, i.e. dimmability, tunability – which is comfortable for everyone across generations.
