New Delhi, June 24 (PTI) Consumer electronics major Sony India has logged up to 35 per cent jump in sales of audio devices, which mainly include headphones, home theatres etc, in the last 30 days from compared with pre-Covid era sales, a top company official has said.

This rise in sales has been witnessed in both online and offline channels and is primarily driven by "work from home" and "learn from home" atmosphere, which has shot up the demand of headphones -- both in wired and wireless category.  

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Encouraged by this type of consumer response, Sony India expects around 5 per cent increase in the contribution from its audio devices segment to take the tally to 20 per cent in the current fiscal in the company's overall sales.   

"We have witnessed sales of headphones shooting up both in offline and online. We can easily see this as 'work from home' and 'learn from home' culture, the new normal is making people buy more headphones. Sony is growing nicely and we have seen a lot of traction," Sony India Managing Director Sunil Nayyar told PTI.

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Elaborating further, he said "the initial traction is 25 to 35 per cent better than before" and is showing "very preferential take off" in the market in last 30 days which include 10 days of May and 20 days of June.  

"India is not yet fully open and even under these conditions also, for our home theatre and headphones, I am witnessing this kind of growth over the normal life period," he said adding that this phenomenon is visible and the market is showing great response to work from home products.

The Indian headphone market — wired and wireless — in FY 2019 was around Rs 1,300 crore and Sony India has around 20 per cent market share in that.

"In FY21, we are projecting this headphone market to grow to around Rs 1,500 crore and we are estimating our share to be between 23 to 25 per cent," he said, adding though both online and offline retail channels would grow in the segment, online would be slightly higher.  

In FY20, 25 per cent of the Indian headphone market was truly wireless including all brands, which are competing in the fast-growing segment, he said. While in the developed market as the US, the ratio of wireless headphone was around 60 per cent last year, the MD added.

"In FY21, we are projecting 35 per cent contribution from wireless headphones," Nayyar said, adding India's wireless headphone segment would be around Rs 600 crore in FY21 and has "huge potential" to grow as there is enough headroom.

Sony India plays in wireless headphone segment in the Rs 9,000 and above market segment and more than half of the market is below that price band.

Sony India, which presently gets around 15 per cent sales from audio products, expects a 5 per cent increase this fiscal in overall sales contribution.

“Though Sony primarily a visual company with a big brand name in TV but we are also equally strong in audio products,” he said adding that the company would continue to have a strong line-up in the segment with home theatres, party speakers and headphones.

According to Nayyar, Sony India has outpaced the market in the audio segment having over 50 per cent plus year-on-year growth.

Sony India on Wednesday introduced two new models of wireless headphone WF-XB700 and WF-SP800N in the Indian market, prices starting from Rs 9,990.

The company is mainly targeting the millennials and this would be Sony's entry into the wireless line-up, Nayyar added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)