TECNO to continue its focus on offline channel

With a strong focus on offline channel and a belief in the multi-brand strategy, TECNO aims to become the desired brand for all. Its brand philosophy - “Think Globally Act Locally” inspires the company to make technology accessible to all. In a chat with VARINDIA, Arijeet Talapatra, CEO, TRANSSION India, 
talks about the trends for 2019, its channel strategy and service support 

      
The India smartphone market landscape is continuously undergoing disruption with the advent of latest technologies. At present, the market is driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and it is becoming a must-have feature for every smartphone. This feature is now available in the premium segment phones, but it will soon be an important feature in the budget phone segment as well. Another technology soon to influence the market is Augmented Reality (AR) which will provide real-life virtual experiences on-screen to users. The major trend of 2019 will be dual camera setup for smartphones.  

“In 2019, AI-enabled cameras will take the driver's seat in India’s vibrant market – a market that is amplifying its focus towards improving smartphone camera technology. According to our study, Indian consumers prefer pictures that are brighter, smoother and incredibly reflective of the true Indian skin tone. AI-enabled cameras will soon become a “must-have” feature in the mid-range and under 10K segments. Artificial Intelligence-led camera features like Auto-Scene detection, beauty mode, and face unlock will witness further refinement, thus boosting their efficiency. 2019 will go beyond dual camera setup and will have multiple camera module as the key trend to look out for. In terms of price points, 7-15K segment of smartphones will contribute the highest that smartphone players will place their bets on,” says Arijeet Talapatra, CEO, TRANSSION India. 

Channel Strategy
The offline brand of TRANSSION, TECNO will continue to focus on offline channel and its activities will center around building a strong relation with its distributors and retailers. 

“TECNO is an offline-focused brand and is available across 35,000 retail touch points across India. Our trade practices are very strong, which lead to delight of the partners. We focus our activities with a quick turnaround of stocks for every distributor as well as retailers which ensure a stronger relationship with us. We will continue to focus our efforts majorly towards the offline channel,” reveals Arijeet.  

Focusing on its brand philosophy “Think Globally Act Locally”, TECNO aims to become a desired brand across segments. Further explaining, he says, “We, at TRANSSION, believe in Multi-brand strategy by offering eclectic product offerings based on the extensive market insight and consumer segmentation which caters to the lowest strata of users experiencing a smartphone for the first time as well as giving the best of experience to users wanting to move up towards a premium segment. We are a committed player with a vision of becoming the preferred brand across segments by designing products and offerings that complement the consumer’s lifestyle and make technology innovation affordable. Our brand philosophy is “Think Globally Act Locally”. We are present across offline channel with brands like itel, and Tecno through a robust pan-India presence with a deep distribution network of one lakh-plus retailers and 3,000-plus channel partners. Also, we have an online-focused brand which is Infinix available via Flipkart.”

Service Support
Expanded widely across countries, Carlcare is the after-sales service brand of TRANSSION. There are more than 900 service centers in India and it is an important part of the company’s offline channel strategy as it provides better service to customers. In order to serve customers better, TECNO has come up with the promise of “111” which comprises free replacement, one-time screen replacement and extended warranty.   

“Carlcare is our global after-sales service brand of TRANSSION. Built with global talents, Carlcare management and technical team together with third-party suppliers comprised more than 1,200 industry experts, with 1,000+ service centers in over 40 countries in Africa, Middle East and Southeast Asia. In India, we have 990+ franchisee service touch points of Carlcare. COCO service centers are an important part of our offline channels to provide our consumers better services in the process of purchase and experience TECNO products. Currently, we have two company-owned service centers, one in Noida and the second in Mumbai. We’ll continue to enhance this part.

“Also, we were first in the industry to introduce beyond the standard warranty and came out with a brand promise of ‘111’. Any consumer who buys TECNO smartphones gets an advantage of 100 days’ free replacement, one-time screen replacement and one-month extended warranty,” says Arijeet.   

Aparna Mullick
aparna@varindia.com