Celkon – not far from realizing its DREAM

Murali Retineni,
Executive Director,
Celkon Mobiles Pvt. Ltd.

Having started its operations in 2010, Celkon Mobiles, as of today, is one of the largest mobile manufacturers from India among the domestic brands. The journey, since its inception has been an enriching experience with learning from the market as what kind of phones would be liked by people from different walks of life and different demographics. And, this particularly has helped Celkon to reach the position it has always dreamt of achieving. 

The “going” so far…

While the initial sales were mostly from the Basic and Multimedia phones, the smartphone segment is where it wants to consolidate its position as a key player. Its present product portfolio contains Dual-Sim mobiles that can be classified as Basic Feature Phones, Multimedia phones, PDA phones and Smartphones. Informs Murali Retineni, Executive Director, Celkon Mobiles Pvt. Ltd, “We have about close-to 70 models currently available in the market across all the segments (Basic, Multimedia, PDA, Smartphone and Tablet PCs). We have launched more than 300 models in total till date. We have sold 51 lakh handsets in the last fiscal year.”

Celkon’s pricing of its phones is always based on its market study on similar phones of other brands and primarily the features of the product. “Our belief is that every partner in the trade should be benefited from the sale. We allow decent margins while pricing so as the super stockist, distributor, retailer are all benefited appropriately,” remarks Retineni. 

The success of any products lies in identifying the needs and challenges of the customer and the key role is in providing the solution for the same. “For instance, there are states in our country where in there is huge power shortage and it would make sense to provide customers with a device that would require long battery life. Similarly, smartphones is a segment where students and young adults, who thrive on pocket money, would want a premium kind of product at an affordable price. We need to provide the same to them and hence we have come up with a series of mobiles called ‘CAMPUS’ wherein we offer EDGE and 3G Mobiles costing around Rs.3,500 to 6,000/-,” says Retineni. This has helped increase the value of Celkon as a brand and garnered greater visibility and brand recall value. 

Celkon is well aware that no matter how good the product is, the reach to any customer is through a retail outlet. That kind of support would be given only when the product is genuinely good. The key strategy is to provide all the marketing support required to make the product a desirable one. “‘We have partnered with 60,000 retail outlets in about 400 districts across the country,” Retineni further informs. 

Plans ahead…

Tablet PCs being currently the trend in the market with a rise in their overall sale, this is going to be an important segment in the mobile market for Celkon and the company is constantly on the study of the latest trends to make appropriate updates to its product portfolio. In fact, Celkon has introduced an in-house built app called “My Tutor” in one of its tablets that would provide millions of questions for Engineering and Business School aspirants who could prepare for exams offline. It is also in the process of developing such apps that would benefit the Tab users in their daily life.

After-sales service is another key area of concern for Celkon. “We have taken care that even before we enter the market in a territory, we set up a service centre and make it active by the time we actually start business,” says Retineni. It boasts of having close-to 600 service centres spread across the country, besides ensuring that there are plenty of spares available for the models that it launches. 

samrita@varindia.com