With over 18 years of experience across some of the world’s most iconic technology and imaging brands, Kunal Girotra has carved a career that spans gaming, imaging, and optics.
He began his professional journey at Sony Electronics India, where he spent more than 12 years across IT and gaming, managing marketing and sales for PlayStation.
He later moved to Fujifilm India, leading the dynamic instant camera category, before joining ZEISS, where he has spent the last three and a half years.
At ZEISS, Kunal oversees the sports optics and photography segment for India, APAC, and Southeast Asia, with India serving as the regional headquarters for his markets outside Japan and China.
In this interview, he shares insights from his diverse career and the evolving role of technology in shaping consumer experiences.
In conversation with Kunal Girotra
ex: I feel that most people are unaware of ZEISS’s involvement in consumer products, often only recognising the logo on Vivo phones. I’m talking about direct consumers, not necessarily the masses. Could you frame a response that helps them get to know the company better?
I completely agree.
That’s one of the main reasons this opportunity with ZEISS was so attractive to me.
When I was at Sony and Fujifilm, ZEISS was already an aspirational brand.
Their products, such as cinema lenses, photo lenses, and binoculars, are all top-of-the-line.
I felt that I could use my experience to make the brand more accessible and reachable to our target audience.
As you said, this is the challenge we face, and we’ve done a good job of addressing it over the last two to three years.
ex: How does ZEISS align its global consumer product strategy with the diverse needs of a market like India?
We follow a regional, bottom-up approach.
As regional managers, we accumulate information on the specific needs of our target markets.
For example, in the sports optics segment, the local trends in India are very unique.
Unlike Europe, the US, or China, where our primary customers are individuals (B2C) like birdwatchers and travellers, the main use case for sports optics in India is business-to-business (B2B).
We’ve found that the major buyers are government bodies like the Forest Department, NGOs working on wildlife initiatives, and national parks.
These organisations often purchase in bulk.
India is a unique case, and our global teams thankfully take these inputs into consideration.
We have been able to develop specific products for India to meet the needs of these B2B customers, which are very different from the markets outside of Asia.
So, it’s a mix of both a regional and global strategy.
ex: Which segment is showing the most promising growth, and how is ZEISS capitalising on it?
India, Thailand, and Singapore are leading the way.
India has been the growth driver for the entire Asia region for a long time.
Over the last year, specifically, Thailand and Singapore have also shown incredibly strong growth.
We are projecting triple-digit growth for these two markets this year, which shows strong consumer acceptance of our entire portfolio, both photography and sports optics.
These three markets are the main growth drivers for us in the region.
We are now entering new markets like Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
While retail has been strong so far, we anticipate that e-commerce will contribute significantly to our growth in these areas in the near future.
ex: What are the most compelling consumer behaviour trends you’re seeing in imaging and related products across the region?
I would say the most significant trend is that premium is the new norm.
We’ve seen this not just in our category but also in mobile phones.
Consumers are increasingly willing to invest in premium products. When it comes to optics, our target market doesn’t want to compromise.
A camera has become a major selling point for mobile phones, and people often check the camera specifications before anything else.
This trend is working incredibly well for us and is a key driver of our rapid growth in specific markets.
ex: How is ZEISS leveraging its core technologies, like optics and digital imaging, to differentiate itself in consumer markets?
In this age of AI, we’ve been working on this for a long time.
Roughly 12 months ago, we launched our first AI product globally: a trail camera.
This product, also known as a trap camera, is primarily used for wildlife research and conservation.
These cameras are placed in forests to capture animal movements without disturbing their habitat.
Our trail camera is differentiated by its AI capabilities.
It has network connectivity, allowing users to view photos and videos live on their mobile phones.
The AI can also identify the animals in the pictures, allowing researchers to monitor their movements more accurately.
This technology is a testament to our specialisation in optics and our 177-year legacy of innovation.
This product has been a huge success in Europe and other markets, and we plan to launch it in Asia soon.
ex: You mentioned that Indian consumers are moving toward premium products, but you also said you’re focusing on affordability to target the mass market. How does ZEISS balance the two?
We follow a very bottom-up approach where we invest a lot of time in understanding our consumers and their behaviour.
We identify the “sweet spots” in terms of pricing. We are very clear that we want to be a premium brand and will not compromise on that.
However, we also understand the market and where customers are willing to buy.
We continuously launch products in these price segments without compromising on innovation or quality.
This strategy has been incredibly successful.
We now have a dominant market share in the premium binocular segment, accounting for over 70% of the market in the last four years.
All these efforts have resulted in a commanding market position.
ex: You answered my question about AI, but is there any other way it’s being implemented in your products?
AI is a continuous innovation story for us, and I can’t share all our future products.
However, you will see a lot of products with integrated AI across our portfolio in the coming months.
Also, regarding AI, our work extends across all four of our core business segments.
Our semiconductor segment is not yet present in India, but our work in AI is very significant.
We have a lot of work happening in the medical space, including apps that use AI.
We also work closely with Apple to manufacture AR lenses for them.
Furthermore, we are collaborating with the Indian Institute of Science, with a focus on AI and eye care.
These are just a few examples of our recent developments.
ZEISS globally invests almost 15% of our revenue into R&D.
That’s a huge chunk, and it shows our serious commitment to innovation.
We’ve been pioneers in the field for decades, and we continue to use the latest technology.
ex: Lastly, what are your core leadership principles that guide you in your role and operations?
We are guided by the core ZEISS values, which are deeply ingrained in our culture.
Our approach is to empower our teams, understand our customers, act accordingly, and then achieve our goals.
These principles are integrated into all our strategies and are the foundation of our success.
Just to add a few more points, our success in the sports optics segment is due to several key initiatives.
Our channel strategy in India is not a copy-paste of our global strategy.
We understood that India is a B2B-focused market and planned our product line accordingly.
We are in touch with over 100 KOLs, including more than 50 forest departments and many NGOs and wildlife institutes.
We have a close collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India, where we have created an experience zone.
Our goal is to catch them young to ensure that any researcher or student studying wildlife has access to our equipment to aid their research.
We also collaborate closely with organisations like the WWF.
Secondly, e-commerce has been a very strong channel.
We are present on Amazon and Flipkart in India, and we are replicating this strategy in Southeast Asia on platforms like Lazada and Shopee.
E-commerce is growing at an incredible pace for us, with a growth rate of almost 90%.
We have 180 SKUs available online, making our products accessible to customers in remote areas where physical stores are not present.
Finally, we have invested heavily in building a network of over 100 key opinion leaders (KOLs) and brand ambassadors.
We are very selective in our choices to maintain quality.
These KOLs have helped us create over 500 pieces of content in the last two years, leading workshops and seminars in different parts of the region to promote our products.
We are leaving no stone unturned in all our channels, B2B, e-commerce, and retail, and this is what’s driving our growth.