You walk through what looks like a curtain of water without getting wet — it’s all special effects, you realise later. There are sculptured boats accompanying you in your journey through darkened cave-like rooms lit up suddenly by droplets of water or gleaming installations of golden faucets.

Welcome to the Jaquar brand experience studio — Art of Sculpting with Water — where you get a glimpse of the history of the company set up 58 years ago, the brand philosophy and vision, all told in a very creative manner. The studio is housed in Jaquar’s corporate headquarters at Manesar, which is shaped like an eagle flapping its wings ready to take off. From the lobby to the atrium, it’s a visual feast, with a big play on water and lights — the two main areas that the group deals in — and five installations that deal with cosmic elements.

The ₹3,123 crore Jaquar group (derived from the name of the founder’s mother, Jai Kaur) has splurged on its eco-friendly intelligent building that harnesses solar energy and recycles water. Here, it gets a bevy of global visitors. For, the faucets to lighting company, after cornering a 60 per cent market share in the bath fittings segment in India, is now journeying overseas aggressively, eyeing a lucrative exports turnover.

Exports will play a big part in its target of ₹1,000 crore turnover by 2022, though the domestic market, where it supplies bath fittings to 2 million homes, will be the mainstay.

Flowing with Jaquar Worlds

Rajesh Mehra, director and promoter of the Jaquar group, describes how they have started moving into Europe, Africa, West Asia and Asia Pacific.

“We will replicate the same strategy that we followed in the domestic markets,” says Mehra — focus on the quality of products, and quality of dealings with customers. Bypassing conventional channels, Jaquar was one of the first in its category to reach out to customers directly, offering seven-year warranties (now extended to 10). “Initially there was a lot of resistance from dealers,” describes Mehra, “but we overcame it.”

The pillar of its global strategy is to set up orientation centres in the market it enters, called Jaquar World. “This is a must because the brand has to be presented in the right image when it enters a new market,” says Mehra.

Right now it has set up Jaquar World centres in Singapore, Dubai, Addis Ababa and London. “We will be opening a 500-sq m Jaquar world in Riyadh, a 400-sq m showroom in Milan,” says Mehra. There are 15 more showrooms under execution in Tunisia, South Africa, Iran, Tanzania, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Guinea, Nigeria, Uganda and Ivory Coast.

Mehra admits that a ‘Made in India’ brand faces huge challenges in a global market due to perceptions that technical quality won’t be up to standards. At the same time, he says, being made in India actually helps Jaquar in its global journey.

That’s because the working condition for the bath fittings products is extremely challenging here — the water quality is poor, plumbers are largely unskilled, customer awareness about maintenance is low and misuse rampant. If the product can overcome these tough conditions in India, then it can sail through in global markets, he points out.

Rebuilding Essco

Alongside aggressively moving overseas, in India, Jaquar is rebuilding Essco, the brand that it originally started its journey with.

In the mid 80s, due to certain issues (a split in partnership), the company was forced to focus on a new brand Jaquar, aimed at a premium market, and Essco got neglected. Once Jaquar got established, it turned its attention on Artize, the luxury category, creating wellness products like Jacuzzi, and spa products.

Three years ago, it decided to build up the value segment through Essco.

“Building up brands is not an easy thing and takes time,” says Mehra, describing how they have built each of these, one by one. Once Jaquar got established, they decided to expand from the core strength of faucets into complete bath solutions, getting into sanitary ware, water heaters, et al . All three brands — Jaquar, Essco and Artize — today offer complete bath solutions which, he says, is the global norm.

Similarly, its foray into lighting is also focussed on providing complete solutions. “From gate to bathroom, we have lights for every need,” says Mehra. But he rules out expansion into kitchenware, asserting that the group will stick to its knitting.

Ask about Artificial Intelligence — after all, globally, there are taps that measure out the water to be poured at a voice command — and Mehra retorts that the investment it would involve will not be commensurate with returns. “Our investments in technology are focussed on reducing costs of manufacturing and saving water,” he points out.

A tour through the showroom of the company also shows a huge investment in design, with breathtaking bath fittings. The bathroom today is a veritable work of art.

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