Affordability is helping Gionee to connect with customers

Arvind Vohra
India Head,
Gionee Smartphones

Gionee has been doing really well globally and stands among the top 10 brands. On entering India last year in February 2013, it had set its goals and wanted to become one of the most sought-after brands in India as well. A year later, it is observed that Indian audiences have been very responsive towards the brand and its activities. It has been doing great business and already has around 2 million satisfied customers. Now, it has a plan for opening 250 brand stores and 2,000 shop-in-shops in the coming year and is targeting a 5-per cent market share by FY 2015. Having a discussion on the marketing trends and company’s expansion plans, Arvind Vohra, India Head, Gionee Smartphones, shares his views with the VARINDIA team. Edited excerpts:

Gionee is, at present, completely focussing on the smartphone market and trying to excel in the space. We have no current plans for the tablet market at present

Is the Phablet concept picking up among Indian customers? Will Phablets substitute smartphones in the near future in your opinion?

Phablets are generally smartphones with a larger screen size typically between 5.1 to 6.9 inches which is a hot favourite nowadays with the young crowd. Larger screen size leads to better viewing and presentation which is a preferred choice for surfing the internet, reading, gaming and watching videos and movies. The phablet market is gaining pace, but I will not say that it will substitute smartphones anytime soon. A good 90 per cent of the market comprises of smartphone users and a 4-inch to 5-inch will continue to be the optimal screen size for the users.

How much of your sales come from the Channel, Retail and e-commerce media? Which one is flourishing for you at present?
We only sell through our retail and channel partners and are currently not selling officially through any e-commerce portal in India. The channel has been very successful in driving impressive sales for us and our own e-store gionee.co.in/estore also complements our sales.

India being a price-sensitive market and more than half of the population of the country comprising of “masses”, what is your strategy to connect to this section of customers? How do you plan to tap the feature phone market?

Gionee has been manufacturing smartphones to keep up with the demands of the “masses”. We have been devising marketing strategies and product launches keeping in mind the price factor. All our phones are high on looks, design, technical aspects, but we have always kept our pricing affordable which, I think, has helped us make the necessary connect with the audience.
For our feature phones, we have mainly focussed on the key aspects like the battery performance and durability which offer the consumers the ease of using the basic features. 

What is your strategy around support?

Customer support is an important factor for any business to flourish. Gionee plans on opening 750 service centres and is working towards a service turnaround time of 72 hours.

What are your future plans for Indian mobile device market?

India is the second-most important market for us after China. We will be introducing new products with better specifications and great features. We plan on penetrating into the regional market by introducing new phone models with regional languages like Gujarati, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Punjabi in our mobile phones from September onwards. We are also working towards a strong distribution network and a service turnaround time of 72 hours and are targeting at opening 250 brand stores and 750 service centres.

satinder@varindia.com