With the advent of emerging technologies and all consumer electronic devices becoming more complex and high-powered to support the technology, there is an urgent need for quality electronic accessories to be able to provide better and powerful connectivity.
Cheap, counterfeit accessories are not only dangerous for the consumer’s electronic devices but also pose a safety hazard. A country like India is a rising market power with vast untapped potential for unbranded, low priced chargers, cables, surge protectors, adapters, among others and has a great potential for its growth in the coming years. Hence, the need of the hour is to educate and create awareness among general consumers about the perks of shedding a few more shillings while buying their next mobile accessory, car charger or HDMI cable for their smart-screen TV.
In an interaction with Co-Founder and CEO for Secure Connection Mr Mohit Anand, we discussed about the recent spur of various expensive devices that constantly catch fire or explode. Usually, everyone owns an expensive smartphone or laptop, but they don’t care about investing on quality accessories to go with it. For example, since devices come with their own original and recommended chargers and cables, one still uses cheaply-sold third-party accessories, only because they are highly affordable. What they don’t realise is that these ‘essential’ accessories are not certified and could cause major damage to expensive equipment.
“I personally like the term ‘electronic essentials’ because they are as necessary for a consumer as the electronic device for which they are using it, to be able to enjoy a rich and seamless experience. With regards to this, my biggest competition today, is awareness and education among the consumers about the significance of purchasing genuine products. Today, every consumer ends up focussing on the big-ticket items. When they are buying any technology product say a laptop, a smartphone, a TV or a tablet, they will essentially pay attention to the brand name, its model number, read online reviews about the product and do their research about its general specifications. However, I see a callous attitude of that consumer, while buying accessories for this product. They are unmindful of the quality — the kind of cable they purchase for their new speakers, the screen guard on the smartphone, the cheap, Chinese, unbranded charger cable for their tablet, or even the extension cord to power up the entire house,” continued Anand.
Responsible for leading Secure Connection, which manufactures quality electronic accessories under the brand Honeywell, Anand had a lot more to share on the immediate problem. He had a lot more to add. “The gravity of this issue comes in the forefront when we learn about recent incidents of reputed, well established, branded phones catching fire while charging and batteries exploding due to overheating. To prevent such cases, it is our moral duty, as experts in the consumer electronics and accessories space to educate them about the importance of buying a product, which is robust, durable and safe to use viz-a-viz all the cheap, unbranded products are flooding the market that can be harmful for their electronic device.
Anand shared with us few tips that consumers should keep in mind before buying their next phone chargers, power boards or travel adapters:
Buy from Established and well-known brands and there authorised retailers: Always try and buy from brands that are well known and established as they have a reputation to protect and thus give due attention to delivering robust and reliable products to the market. We also must buy from authorised retailers/sellers of such brands who have been in the market for a time now and are reputable. These sellers mostly care about their ratings and image and hence will offer robust and reliable products from reputed brands.
Think twice for items with a super low price: If the price of a particular item is much lower than its actual market price, it’s best to avoid it. These are most probably fake, Chinese knockoffs, which aren’t even good to use and end up damaging your product.
Check for Safety Standards markings: Every genuine and good quality electronic product comes with Safety Standards markings that has been tested and certified for sale in a particular country. Always check for that seal of approval before buying.
Does it come with a warranty: Reputable and trusted brands usually offer their own set of warranties taking ownership and responsibility for the manufacturing and packaging of their products Hence, one thing that consumers must definitely look-up before buying is the Guaranteed Genuine tag and keep their safety net on.
